


Mercy Killing

by CandiedChris



Series: Purpura Serpenta [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff, Freeform, Gang Violence, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Original Character(s), Protective Sweet Pea (Riverdale), Riverdale High School, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Teen Angst, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2019-10-22 00:36:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 15
Words: 45,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17652677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CandiedChris/pseuds/CandiedChris
Summary: After a vicious run-in with a group of Ghoulies, Lavender Rhodes is forced down a bumpy road to recovery. In order to protect her from another attack, the Serpent king assigns Fangs and sweet Pea to stay by her side. Too bad Lav and Sweet Pea can't stand each other.Slight AU, not totally canon and will only loosely follow the story line. Slow burn so don't expect any sexual content until later chapters.





	1. Road Kill

**Author's Note:**

> Also I haven't published anything in years and haven't actually written a story in ages so this is covered in rust. I have no actual plot thought out yet, just kind of going with the flow. Again, sexual content in later chapters. No graphic depiction of sexual assault, just allusion. 
> 
> Not a lot of Pea in this chapter, it's really more of a prologue to get the story going. He'll be in the next one more, I promise. Chapters will hopefully be longer as well, I just liked the ending place.

Two weeks. Fourteen days, three hours, and nineteen minutes to be exact. That’s how long she’d been a full-fledged Serpent. And that’s how long it took for her to be attacked by a group of rabid Ghoulies. Lavender left the Whyte Wyrm, swaying to a beat set on repeat inside her drunk head. Her purple waves of hair bouncing around her as her hips moved on par with the imaginary rhythm. She was too inebriated to drive so she did was she usually did when she had a few too many – she walked. Sunnyside Trailer Park wasn’t that far, about a thirty minute walk. The weather was nice and the cool air felt great against her scorching skin. 

She didn’t even notice the car pull up beside her. She waved off the cat calls and whistles she got. She didn’t stop until someone made her stop. Her eyes opened fully and tried to focus in the darkness. A man with a painted face obscured her vision as another man grabbed her by the wrist. 

“Time for some fun, boys.” The ghoul in front of her said with a deadly grin. Before she could realize what was happening, it was already too late.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

“What is the fuck is that?” Sweet Pea asked, rolling down the window to Fangs’ truck. His eyes had caught sight of a heap on the side of the road. Fangs slowed down, pulling off to the side so that the headlights of his truck shown onto the mass. 

The sight of signature purple converse immediately caught his eye, “fuck!” Both boys scrambled out to confirm that it was who they thought. A fellow Serpent and a fairly good friend of Fangs’: Lavender Rhodes. 

She was laying on her side, vomit on the ground beside her. “Jesus fucking Christ.” Sweet Pea breathed out as he noticed the state of her ripped clothes and the blood pooling on the ground and in her clothes, most notably her light blue underwear. 

Fangs and Sweet Pea shared a look and a nod. Fangs lifted up her small body so Sweet Pea could shimmy her pants back onto his hips. He slid off his jacket and wrapped it around her torso, the large expanse of leather covering her almost down to the middle of her thighs. 

Sweet Pea picked her up with one hand under her shoulders and the other under her knees. A small whine escaped her lips as her head lulled to the side against his chest. He felt like he was holding a porcelain doll that was cracking, threatening to fall to pieces if he moved too quickly or too forcefully. 

“Who the fuck did this, Lavie?” Fangs asked, brushing her hair out of her swollen face. “I’m taking you to the hospital but you have to tell me who.” “Ghoulies.” She breathed out, as if just saying it would bring them back. A painful shudder passed through her at the thought, Sweet Pea’s grip tightened as a response. She lost consciousness as they got her into the truck.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Lavender thought nothing could be worse than what the Ghoulies did to her, but that was before she went through the rigorous examination for her rape kit. She thought it was pointless. Their faces were painted, it was dark, she was (and still is) drunk, and the only evidence she had was a bit of their flesh under her fingernails that she managed to get as a souvenir. The nurse performing it was very kind and patient. She didn’t judge her, even after she saw the double headed snake tattoo on her right breast. Once it was over she gave the teen a mild sedative to help her relax so the doctor could look over her other injuries. 

FP was outside along with Jughead, Sweet Pea, and Fangs. His arms were crossed and his teeth were clenched. He’d watch this girl grow up. He cheered her on through her initiation. Now he wondered the extent of what the rival gang members had done to her. And he asked repeatedly what the hell she was doing by herself at night. 

Fangs informed him that he offered to drive her home but she insisted that she didn’t need a man to take care of her. Insisted that she would be fine. Insisted that she’d done this dozens of times and nothing had ever happened. Insisted she was brave enough, strong enough, and smart enough to take care of herself. 

All four boys stopped breathing when the nurse exited the room once she thought Lav was settled enough to be on her own. She looked up at FP and shook her head. “This is bad FP.” 

“How is she?” FP asked, keeping his voice level and calm though he was everything but. 

“Resting.” The nurse said. “She’s been through a lot. Collecting the evidence is always the worst part for the victim.” There were a collection of bags in her hands along with notes detailing everything Lavender was able to tell her. “I’ll ask her more questions when she’s sober. The doctor still needs to take a look at her, but I would guess she has a concussion, cracked ribs, and I suspect that her wrist is broken but she wouldn’t let us do x-rays earlier. We stitched everything that required it, put bandages on everything else. They worked her over good, FP, but she fought. She fought like hell. Not that it did much against four grown men.” 

His frown deepened, an expression mirrored by the younger boys. “Be honest, are we going to find who did this?” 

“I collected some blood and skin under her fingernails. She made sure to grab a fistful of hair too. If there’s any other evidence on her clothes or from what I combed from her hair then forensics will find it.” She told him. 

“No semen?” FP asked, not wanting to say it but knowing he had to. 

She let out a sad sigh, “they used a foreign object. She wouldn’t tell me what, but I’ll ask again once she’s had a chance to rest. This wasn’t about sex. This was about power. The doctor is going to do a more thorough physical examination now that I’ve done what I need to. It’s going to be a while, we’re busy as hell tonight.” 

“Thanks Lorraine.” FP said with nothing less than sincerity. She nodded at him before taking the evidence to where it needed to be stored for the deputy who was coming to pick it up. 

“Those mother fuckers.” Fangs hissed out, “they’re going to pay for this.” Sweet Pea was just as angry, even if he didn’t really like Lavender. To him she had just been some Northsider with serpent blood, much like Jughead. She hadn’t proven herself. Sure she did the serpent dance and went through initiation but it wasn’t like she’d ever actually done anything for them. He didn’t care about her but the thought that the Ghoulies had done this to one of their own? That he did care about and he thirsted for revenge just as much as his best friend did. 

“Do we know for sure it was the Ghoulies?” Jughead dared to ask. “If we retaliate and it wasn’t them, then it’ll start a war.” 

FP was almost too lost in thought to hear him. Before he could answer Sweet Pea growled a response, “who the fuck else would do this?” 

“Someone wanting to frame the Ghoulies.” Jughead said flatly. It wasn’t that he _didn’t_ think they were guilty. He just wanted all bases covered. FP understood this, but still didn’t quite like what he son was getting at. 

“There’s a tell in how they do things.” FP said. “A signature.” Lav wasn’t the first Serpent to be raped by the Ghoulies and he doubt she’d be the last. There had been two other victims in the past ten years who had been assaulted by the Ghoulies in a similar fashion. There was one blinding similarity: the object they used to violate the women. 

Jughead seemed to figure it out while the other two boys were left in the dark. “So? What is it?” Fangs pressed, his voice desperate for answers that FP just didn’t have. 

FP let out an aggravated sigh, “we need to find out what they used, but if she’s not ready to say then I don’t want to push her. Sweet Pea, Fangs, I’m assigning you to protection detail in case they decide to go for another round. Just until she’s healed up. Take shifts, do whatever, just don’t leave her side. In the meantime, Jughead and I will get to the bottom of this.” There was another tense, quiet moment. “I need to get this figured out, come with me Jug. You two stay here. I don’t reckon she’s going to be up for visitors for some time. I’ll be back in a few hours to check in.” FP said before leaving with his son to look into the other two cases that happened years ago. 

Fangs and Sweet Pea sat for a while without speaking, fists clenched so hard that their knuckles were white. “I know you don’t like her, Sweets. I can watch her myself.” Fangs said after a while of agitated silence. The doctor had swept past them and was inside now examining her with the help of Lorraine. 

“No, it’s my job too.” Sweet Pea stated hotly, not disagreeing with the fact that he didn’t like Lavender but also not liking that this had happened to her. “She didn’t deserve this.” 

“I know…I should have just taken her drunk ass home.” Fangs said with a sigh, his voice cracking near the end. 

Sweet Pea glanced at him, “it’s not your fault. She’s stubborn as fuck. Everyone knows it. No one’s going to blame you, Fangs.”

 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Lavender woke up the next day even sorer than she had been the night before. She didn’t remember much other than the pain. Her right eye was still swollen shut. There were stitches along the four evenly placed gashes across her face where the pointed brass knuckles had caught her skin. Her lip was busted. She looked down with her good eye to see a cacophony of bandages and a cast on her left wrist. She could feel think bandaging around her ribcage which hurt like hell. 

At first she couldn’t remember how she got there. It all came back in an achingly slow pace. The drinking, the attack, someone picking her up, the nurse…She remembered the exam more than anything else for some reason. Her dreams were all haunted memories of painted up ghouls and it was hard to ignore the pain between her legs. 

A soft snore caused her to turn her head to see Fangs sleeping quietly in the chair next to her bed. “Fangs,” She rasped out, not recognizing her voice. He didn’t stir, “Fogarty, wake up.” She said, a little louder. 

His snoring promptly stopped and his eyes fluttered open, “Lav? Hey baby, you’re awake.” He smiled at her, trying not to look distraught by her appearance. The bruising was so much worse now than it had been last night. “How you feel?” 

She stared at him for a moment, tears welling up into her eyes making Fangs instantly regret his question. “Hey, hey it’s okay.” He said, getting up to grab her good hand. “It’s okay to not feel okay.” 

Lav forced a small laugh “That doesn’t make sense…” She muttered, squeezing his hand weakly. “Did you bring me here?” 

He nodded, “Sweat Pea carried you while I drove. Do you not remember?” 

“It’s a blur.” She mumbled. “Sweet Pea? But he hates me.” 

Fangs’ thumb rubbed against her skin to try and sooth her. “He doesn’t hate you. In fact, we’ve been assigned to watch over you while you get better.” 

She let out a groan, “I don’t need babysitters.” 

“Yea, you do.” FP said firmly as he entered the room. “That’s not up for negotiation.” 

Lavender frowned as she looked at her king. He was holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a duffel bag in the other. She quickly looked away, feeling too ashamed to meet his eyes. 

“How do you-“ FP started but Fangs quickly did a throat cutting motion to get him to stop before he upset her again. He cleared his throat, “The doctor says you can come home today but you’ll still need your rest. He’s giving you a few prescriptions. Something for pain, nausea, and some antibiotics to make sure none of your cuts become infected. I’ve already picked up some gauze and bandages to keep you wrapped up tighter than a mummy.” 

She chanced a glance up at him, “thanks, dad.” She joked lightly. Her father had died a year before of a bad motorcycle accident. Her mother left only months prior to that. She was alone now and the Serpents were all she had. Her dad and FP had been best friends, he was his right hand man. When she visited her father every other weekend, half the time she would spend it at the Jones’ trailer. 

“So…what was the damage?” Lavender asked, genuinely curious despite the sickening churn of anxiety in her stomach. 

FP sighed softly, “Concussion, fractured orbital bone, broken nose, broken wrist, three broken ribs, dozens of stitches. You really ran the gamut.” He paused for a moment, “Fangs and Sweet Pea are going to stay with you in your trailer, okay? They’ll have you feeling right as rain in no time.” FP said, setting the coffee down on the bedside table for her. “I got it just the way you like it. Three creams, no sugar.” 

She gave him a sheepish smile before taking a sip of the bean juice. “It’s perfect, thanks…but, Sweet Pea? Are you sure?” 

“What? Not good enough for you, Northsider?” Sweet Pea asked, having been right outside the door. He was in the doorframe now, staring her down as he filled it completely. 

She was able to hold his gaze much longer than she held FP’s, “no, that’s not it.” She said flatly. “I guess your giant self will scare away any Ghoulie.” Sweet Pea continued to frown. 

Fangs chuckled, “damn straight, baby. When can she get out of here, FP?” 

“Hold your horses, it’ll be at least another hour.” FP said. “They have to get the discharge paperwork ready, Lorraine needs to ask a few follow up questions, and I’ll need to pick up the prescriptions. I brought some clothes for you from your trailer since yours are locked up with evidence.” 

“My shoes…” Lav mumbled, suddenly feeling like her whole identity had been ripped from her. Her nickname, her persona, everything came from those light purple ratty low tops she wore every day. They were in that good broken in stage where they were molded to her feet perfectly, and she could wear them without socks and not get blisters if she was in a hurry. She never had to untie them because they were stretched enough to where she could slip her feet in and out with no fuss. Sure the whites were no longer white and the purple was now muted with dirt but still…they were a part of her soul. Fangs was quiet, not knowing how to console her on that. He just held her hand tighter. 

FP dug through the duffel and pulled out a pair of shoes, setting them on her legs delicately. They looked identical to the ones she had lost…well, when they were new at least. Sure they weren’t broken in and she’d have blisters the first week or so wearing them but…the mere sentiment had tears in her eyes. “Thanks, FP...For everything.” 

“You just have to promise me to get better as soon as possible.” FP told her softly, as if he were a father speaking to his daughter. “Okay? We’re going to find who did this and we’re going to make them pay.” 

Lav just nodded meekly. They were going to fucking pay.


	2. Ugliness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lav is home from the hospital, stuck with a volatile Serpent that wants nothing to do with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW/CW: victim blaming
> 
> You'll see victim blaming from both SP and Lav. Remember they are both teenagers that have never been in the situation before. Have likely never been taught how to handle this kind of situation either. While they both seem to think it is Lav's fault for what happened, I want to reiterate that that is not what **I** think. It is not her fault. It is never the victim's fault, I don't care what the circumstances are. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy. I pumped this out a lot faster than I thought I would. Enjoy the awkward fluff and a Gentle Pea.

Lavender hurt. She hurt a lot. So much that Fangs practically carried her to her trailer once she was discharged. Lorraine had to help her get dressed and that was a slow process. She knew she’d need help putting clothes on, taking clothes off, hell even taking a bath. Luckily she figured she could ask Toni on the really rough days and just take some of the Oxy the doctor had prescribed her on days she was alone. FP let her know that he called her job to let them know that she’d been in an _accident_ and the extent of her injuries. She had a doctor’s excuse as well for two weeks. The doctor even mentioned that if she didn’t feel healed up enough after that then he’d write her another one. That was just when her follow up appointment was.

“Alright Lavie, we have to go up the stairs.” Fangs said, easing her out of his truck. It was awkward as hell sitting between him and Sweet Pea, luckily she was small enough to fit between both broad shouldered boys. 

Lav groaned, the prospect sounding horrible. “Do I have to?” Sweet Pea rolled his eyes. 

“Would you rather I throw you over my shoulder?” Fangs asked in a fake sweet voice. 

“I have three broken ribs!” Lav bit back, “You’ll crack them even more!” 

Fangs laughed, “Which is why you need to go up there yourself. It’s four steps.” 

She looked up at the daunting set of stairs. “You’ll stay by my side…?” She heard Sweet Pea snort behind them. Lav looked over her shoulder to glare daggers at him. She looked more like an angry raccoon than a threat with her black eyes and swollen nose. 

“Yes, I’ll be right here. I’ll even unlock the door for you.” Fangs said sweetly, she wondered briefly why _he_ wasn’t named Sweet Pea instead. 

Sweet Pea was agitated. He tried to understand that she was in a lot of pain but he also didn’t get why she didn’t just work through it like any other Serpent would. He felt like she was fully taking advantage of Fangs’ kindness and that didn’t sit well with him. She had done nothing but whine since they got out of the hospital. Of course he always had a feeling she was an entitled princess, now he just had evidence of it. He clenched and unclenched his fists to keep from snapping at her. 

Pea felt sorry for what had happened to her, he really did, but this was just too much. He dreaded the thought of being alone with her which he knew was going to happen eventually. They had agreed on shifts throughout the night although Fangs seemed reluctant to agree to it. Sweet Pea just knew that he had to help his mom take care of his little sister on the nights that she worked late. 

Tonight was going to be one of those nights. 

Lavender and Fangs made it up the stairs without much trouble. She had to stop to breathe through the ache of her bruised and cut thighs. The tension on the stitches she had on a few of the gashes there seemed to increase tenfold whenever she put weight on her legs. Worst of all she knew she couldn’t take anything for pain for another four hours. 

Fangs managed to get her inside and Sweet Pea reluctantly followed after them into the single wide. He’d never actually been inside before. The layout was similar to his own, which wasn’t surprising. There were only so many ways to arrange a small trailer. He had seen the house she grew up in on the Northside. It was two-story, spacious. It was made a brick. Sweets didn’t know much but he knew that her mother had left, selling the house and taking the money to live elsewhere. Lav was forced to live with her father here on the Southside. This had been his trailer before he passed. 

Rhodes had been one hell of a Serpent. He taught Sweet Pea everything he knew about switchblades. Made him wonder why Lav didn’t have one on her when the Ghoulies attacked her. Come to think of it, he had never actually seen her carry one. 

Fangs got her to the worn pleather couch where Lavender heaved a somewhat over-dramatic sigh. Her eyes lost focus as she stared at the wall with a frown on her face. Both boys glanced at one another, sharing a confused look before Fangs waved a hand in front of her face. “Lavie, come back to the Earth, alien princess.” 

Her gaze focused in on his moving hand. A pout formed on her lips as she looked at him. “Is Toni working tonight?” 

“Yea, why?” Fangs asked, wondering why his answer made her look so crestfallen. 

“No reason.” She said, though in truth she had wanted help in taking a bath. She felt so fucking dirty, like she’d never get clean again. The memory of the sensation of Ghoulie hands roaming over her body made her want to heave. Lav had hoped that she’d be able to have some help in getting some of the dried blood off of her. She needed fresh bandages put on and there were places she did not want Fangs or Sweet Pea – God, especially Sweet Pea – to see. He felt his eyes boring into her like two well-aimed lasers. Cutting away at her already ripped skin. “Take a fucking picture, Sweet Pea.” She finally hissed out. 

Sweet Pea scoffed lightly as he looked away from her, “why? I know what a wounded raccoon looks like.” He said coldly, earning an elbow in the ribs from Fangs who looked less than pleased. Lavender steeled her features to keep her hurt from showing. She knew she looked ugly, hell she _felt_ even uglier. The last thing she needed was for him to tell her that. 

The amount of physical pain was considerable, but it didn’t match the fractioning pieces of her heart that only splintered more at his comment. Not that she even cared what he thought. Fuck him, he was just an asshole. 

“How about Sweet Pea goes and picks us up Pop’s for dinner?” Fangs offered. 

Lavender hadn’t felt like eating. Since she hadn’t been able to brush her teeth, she could still taste vomit in the back of her throat. Despite knowing food would help with her medication, she didn’t want to eat. Didn’t want to even think about food. “No thanks, Fogarty. I’m not hungry.” 

Fangs’ face fell slightly. He had hoped a milkshake would cheer her up a little, make her feel better. “You need to go anyway, Fangs.” Sweet Pea reminded him, “Your mom is working tonight.” 

“Oh shit.” Fangs muttered, “I totally forgot.” 

The girl’s eyes narrowed at her friend, “you’re not staying?” She was already feeling nauseous from the thought of being alone with Sweet Pea. First Toni couldn’t come help her and now Fangs? She was dreading just being alive at this point. 

Fangs gave her a sympathetic look, “I have to watch Gingersnap for my mom. Don’t worry, Sweets will take care of you. That really nice nurse wrote down everything we need to do to make sure you feel better.” He dug through the bag they had gotten from the hospital to show her neatly handwritten notes. “When to take your meds, when to change your bandages. Everything!” He grinned at her, praying that it would be contagious. 

It wasn’t. 

“I’m not excited about this either, princess.” Sweet Pea drawled, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. He still wasn’t looking at her. She wondered for a moment why he hated her so much. What she had ever done to him to deserve the treatment she was getting. 

Whatever. She’d do this without him. 

Fangs checked the time on his phone and cursed. “I’ve got to go. I’ll text you to make sure you’re still alive, okay? And as soon as my mom gets home I’ll come right back. Keep the door locked and listen to Sweet Pea, okay?” 

“Why do I have to listen to him? He’s a jerk.” Lavender grumbled, holding her ribs as she stood up. Her legs shook under here and both boys were sure she was going to fall right back down. She looked like a fawn just after birth, ready to collapse at any moment. After a moment she steadied herself and did her best to stand up straight, stretching to full height as if that would do anything to help her case. She was still shorter than both Fangs and Sweet Pea, but hell everyone was shorter than Sweet Pea. Even Lucifer himself, Lavender mused silently. 

Fangs like out a tired sigh. He had hardly slept at all last night and it showed. Lav only slept thanks to the sedatives they pumped her full of. She was wishing she had some more just to help cope. “Because you can barely stand on your own.” 

Lavender let out an offended huff. Her jaw clenched as she willed herself to brush past both of them and to her room. “Screw you!” She spat before walking into the room and slamming the door. 

Once by herself tears pricked her eyes and she had to put a hand over her mouth to keep the sob from coming out. She had always been independent. Even as a little girl. She would be damned if she started depending on anyone now. Her back was against the door as she steadied her breathing to keep from crying. A few rogue tears went down her face as she made her way to her bed. Slowly she eased herself down to her soft mattress, laying down to bury her face into her pillow and finally cry. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Hours later the alarm on Sweet Pea’s phone went off. He hadn’t heard a single sound from Lav’s bedroom, and he wondered if she was even still awake or if she had actually gotten hungry. He was but the only thing he found in her kitchen cabinets were spaghetti noodles and Little Debbie Swiss rolls. How did she not have any fucking food? 

He grabbed the gauze and medical tape that FP had bought as well as the antibiotic ointment from the pharmacy. This was going to be like pulling teeth and Pea knew it. Still, it had to get done. 

The giant went to her door and knocked on it three times, waiting a beat before opening the door. He flipped on the light switch by the door, a lucky guess on his part, and looked over at her. She was awake, staring into space again with that far out look in her eyes. They flickered to him for a moment and he could tell she’d been crying. It made him feel awkward. He never knew what to do when girls cried. He was shit at comforting them, unlike Fangs who always seemed to know what to do or say. Perks of having a little sister, he guessed. 

Sweet Pea walked over to her. The floor creaked under his weight and her eyes snapped to him suddenly hyper focused. “What are you doing?” She asked, her voice low but not hostile. The fight had been beaten out of her and the pathetic look she was giving him sent a pang of guilt through his chest. It only lasted a moment before disappearing. 

“It’s time to redress your cuts.” He said, “And time to take your medicine.” He set down a bottle of water on the bedside table next to her face. Lav struggled to lift herself up into a sitting position. A groan of pain left her pink lips as the movement caused strain on her worn muscles. Everything ached, especially her ribs. Lying so incredibly still hadn’t been so bad, though breathing did cause a dull throbbing in her torso. Her expanding lungs seem to press against the fractured bones painfully which made her resort to shallow breathing. 

Still she wanted to wash herself but that was out of the question. There was no way in hell she was getting naked in front of Sweet Pea and having him help ease her into the bath tub. Not that she even thought he’d agree to that. It occurred to her that she had to have been in a state of undress when Fangs and Pea found her last night. The thought sending a sickening feeling through her. If only she hadn’t looked so weak in front of them. How was she ever going to prove her strength now? 

It shouldn’t have bothered her. She was in her underwear in front of all of the Serpents the night she did her initiation dance. It was different when it was voluntary. 

Sweets was boring holes into her yet again, aggravating her. “I’m not going to do it with you in here…” She mumbled to him, her voice hardening again. 

“Don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart. I’ve already seen all there is to see.” Sweet Pea said, not really trusting her to be able to handle herself. A horrified look past over Lav’s face at his words. Then she chided herself for even thinking he’d look at her like that. “You can barely sit up, how are you going to do this by yourself?” 

Her head turned away from him as she started to slowly undo the buttons on the grey and green flannel she was wearing. She could feel his eyes on her as she slipped her shirt off and she quickly hugged herself with her arms, feeling way too exposed. 

“Your pants.” He reminded her when she didn’t move from her position. Lav shot him an annoyed, defiant look which honestly amused Sweet Pea more than anything. 

Lav still didn’t move, “I’m not taking off my pants, you can forget it.” 

Sweets took an intimidating step towards her, suddenly making her feel very small. “The worst cuts are on your thighs.” He said, having known because he had seen them. He also overheard the nurse telling FP that she had the most stitches there. She was lucky they didn’t hit an artery. 

She almost crumbled before him in humiliation, “I can’t…I need help.” She muttered. He had barely heard her. 

He rolled his eyes and got down on his knees in front of her, setting the bag with the medical supplies down. His hands moved to the waistband of her black sweatpants and Lav felt tears come to her eyes. She tried to swallow them back, tried to remind herself that this was Sweet Pea. He was a total dick but he wasn’t going to hurt her. Not on purpose. “W-wait.” She stammered as his fingers brushed against the bare flesh of her hips. He looked up at her with what she could have sworn was tenderness in his eyes. It was gone for a moment before dissolving into two brown pools devoid of emotion. 

Sweet Pea waited until she was ready. He knew this had to be hard for her and FP had warned both him and Fangs not to push her too hard. He wanted to get this done and over with but at the same time…there was a small part of him that didn’t want to send her over the edge so soon after the attack. 

Lavender took a few shallow breaths. She leaned back on her good hand and lifted up her hips for him. “Okay.” She said softly and he slowly slid the fabric down to just below her knees. Her entire body was shaking and Pea thought that maybe he should say something to try and calm her down. Except, he didn’t know at all what to say. 

He slowly took off the bandages around her thighs, unwrapping the gauze and setting it to the side of him. He dug through the bag to grab the antibiotic ointment for her. 

Once it was open, he broke the seal and put some on his large index finger. Lavie braced herself for pain, figuring Sweets was going to be as rough as he usually is in how he does everything. To her surprise he used every ounce of restraint in him to softly glide the ointment over the stitched up gashes along her thighs. 

It would have been something close to erotic if it had been anyone other than this giant jerk. She studied his face, his lips were pressed together into a hard line and his eyes were focused on the task before him. He couldn’t help but look over the finger-shaped purple bruises that marred her pale skin. His digits lingered on her for only a second before he pulled away from his work. 

Lav let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. His eyes finally glanced up to meet hers. There was anger in them. Burning like simmering coals in a dying fire. She wondered what she had done to piss him off so suddenly when just a moment ago there was nothing but apathy in his gaze. 

“You’re a dumbass.” Sweet Pea said, fury still sizzling in the back of his mind. His voice was harsher than he had intended, but he needed her to know. But Lavender didn’t need the blame placed on her by someone else right now, she had been doing that enough herself. 

A tear escaped her blue-green eye and stumbled down her cheek. “I know.” She choked out, hating to say out loud that this was her fault. She put her own self in this situation. 

Sweet Pea didn’t have a response to that. His eyes flickered to the lip that she was biting hard to keep from giving in to her emotions. He picked up a gauze pad and placed it along her biggest cut. He taped in into place before moving to some of the small ones. 

He only looked back up at her when he was finished. Lavender leaned back once more, lifting her hips again and he carefully pulled her pants back up for her like he had done the night before. He ignored her sigh of relief when they were secured in place. 

With her legs wrapped, he moved to her stomach. Repeating the process of taking off the old bandages, putting the medication on them, and rewrapping them all with a softness that she had never seen from him before. At least, not towards her. Maybe towards Toni or Fangs but definitely not towards her. 

Luckily there were no actual cuts on her ribcage itself so he didn’t need to undo the thick cloth bandages that were wrapped around them. He took the bandage off the cut on her left breast. Luckily he could access it without her having to take her bra off. That would have been a hard no for her. 

She winced when the adhesive of the tape pulled on her sensitive skin, and she could have sworn that she heard something akin to an apology leave his mouth. She couldn’t be sure, his voice had been so muted. 

Once again he found his fingers tracing over the mixture of black, purple, and pink bruising across her skin. It looked almost like a galaxy etched into her soft flesh. Lav stared hard at the frown on his face. She mistook it for disgust. Of course she looked disgusting. Her skin wasn’t the right color, it was swollen, sensitive, and cut to ribbons in some places. 

Pea made quick work of the bandages on her breast. Her right one had been untouched. He found it odd that the Ghoulies didn’t try to do something with her tattoo which he could mostly see on the exposed part of her chest. The bottom tip was covered by the pink fabric of her bra. He realized now why she wanted Toni. She didn’t want him to be touching her like this and it was easy to guess why. He was oblivious sometimes but he wasn’t a total idiot. 

Lavender pulled her shirt back up onto her shoulders and started to button it back up again. She was trying to ignore his presence and was doing a fairly good job until he felt his hand cup the wounded side of her face. 

He gingerly peeled back the medical tape that secured the gauze pad in place. She watched him with another baited breath. Four cuts disfigured what he begrudgingly thought was a beautiful face. Her freckles hidden by the vast collection of bruises. 

With a touch even lighter than before, he dressed the cuts on her face before applying another pad and taping it into place. Once done he slammed down the pill bottles onto her bedside table from inside the bag. “Take these.” He practically growled out before storming out. 

He was so volatile. Tender in one moment and rough in the next. It threw her for a loop as she played with the medicine bottles. She managed to open them with much difficulty since one wrist was in a cast. Once she got the lids off she took the prescribed dose and swallowed it down with a splash of water. Her stomach growled in protest but she ignored it. All she wanted to do was sleep and forget all about the volcanic serpent in her living room.


	3. Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a lot of SP in this chapter but it was necessary to build up the relationship between Lav and the other serpents. Next one will have a big reveal of something that happened between Pea and Lav in the past. Also it's 20 fucking 19 and friends can cuddle in their underwear if they want to.
> 
> May write some one-shot smut in the meantime. I haven't decided yet. Enjoy!

Lav woke up to the sound of screaming. It felt so foreign and far away that she didn’t even realize it was coming from her. Strong hands were gripping her shoulders, shaking her with great restraint. They didn’t want to break her even more than she was already broken, but honestly the feeling of being held down by some unseen force made her even more hysterical.

Her eyes focused onto a tattoo of a double-headed serpent splayed out on a tan neck. He was saying something but she was too dazed to make it out. The hands left her shoulders and she heard him speak again but this time it was to someone else. 

“What do I fucking do, she won’t stop screaming?!” A familiar gruff voice shouted into the receiver. He hadn’t even realized that she had actually gone quiet. He seemed just as frantic as she was. Her body shook and she turned to the side and promptly emptied what little contents of her stomach there were onto the floor at his feet. 

Sweet Pea cursed, jumping away from her quickly to avoid the back splash. A string of foul language exited his mouth into the phone as she dry heaved, a ripple of pain tearing through her ribcage. There were tears in her eyes as she finally laid limp, head hanging off the side of the bed in case she had anything else to puke onto the floor. 

He left. She didn’t look up, however she could hear his heavy footsteps walk out and she heard him gagging in the other room. Chinese had been a mistake as he tasted his crab rangoons come back up. At least he made it to a trashcan unlike Lav who had just effectively evacuated her stomach acid onto her carpet. 

The back of her throat burned, her eyes stung with tears, she looked up and fiddling with one of the medicine bottles on the nightstand. She took out a dose of Zofran and put it in her mouth to dissolve. God bless Lorraine for telling her how to take it. 

There was a few minutes of heavy silence in the trailer. Lav glanced at the clock to see that it was three in the morning. She heard the sound of water running in her bathroom. There was a brief ghost of a smirk on her lips as she realized that the hard ass known as Sweet Pea was a sympathy puker. Served him right. 

There was a tap at her front door but before Lavender could lift herself to try and make her way to it, Sweets briskly walked over to the worn wood. He swung it open, relief flooding his features as he saw a very sleepy Toni Topaz on the other side. “Why does it smell like vomit?” 

SP gave her a frustrated look, “she puked.” 

Toni tried not to smile, “so that means you puked too.” 

“Shut up,” He said, trying not to pout. Toni was the only other person that knew this about him. She discovered it because he helped take care of her once when she was sick and had witnessed it herself. 

The pink-haired girl flitted past him and into Lav’s room where she cut on the light to at least see what the hell kind of mess she was walking into. Toni gave her a friend a sympathetic look as she walked over to her and sat down on the side of her bed. She brushed Lav’s hair back out of her face. She didn’t ask if Lav was okay because she knew that she wasn’t. They had a brief text conversation earlier that night where they had decided that Toni would help Lav get cleaned up the next day…which was technically now. 

“Let’s get you to the bath, okay? My cousin broke his arm once and he wrapped it up in plastic bags so the cast didn’t get wet. I’ll have Sweets grab some for us. I’ll be right back to help you.” Toni’s voice was soft as she continued to play with the strands of her friend’s purple hair. “Can I call Cheryl to come help?” 

Lavender just nodded her head weakly. She honestly loved both Toni and Cheryl and was so happy when they got together. She grew up with Cheryl on the Northside but became fast friends with Toni when she moved to the other side of the tracks. Plus she wasn’t sure if Toni could help her to the bathroom by herself with her equally small frame. 

Toni disappeared into the living room. “I’m not even going to bother asking you to clean up the puke while I help her take a bath.” 

“She can’t take a bath.” Sweet Pea said, looking up from his phone. He had tried texting Fangs, but he was asleep and that boy was sometimes impossible to wake up. 

The smaller girl gave him a baffled look, “why the hell not?” 

“The nurse said so, here.” He flipped through the pages of instructions and handed the corresponding page to Toni. “It’s been twenty-four hours so she can take a shower but it’s underlined that she can’t take a bath. Honestly, she could barely stand on her own so I don’t know how you’re going to do it.” 

Toni was already texting her girlfriend, asking for help. “I’m so glad school is still out.” She said with an exhausted sigh. “It’s going to be a long day.” 

Sweets nodding in agreement. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

There had been a compromise. Lav sat in water about two inches deep with her knees curled up to her chest so that the water couldn’t soak her stitches. Her head was resting on her arms that were on top of her bent legs. There was a plastic grocery bag wrapped around her cast, taped up with an exuberant about of medical tape. Cheryl was keeping her company while Toni cleaned the carpet. 

She was scrolling through her Instagram feed while Lav seemed lost in thought. “Want to talk about it?” She asked after hearing another sigh escape the bathing girl’s lips. 

“Not really.” Lav muttered. This had all be very difficult for her. She thought cleaning herself would help her mood but it didn’t. Cheryl had to repeatedly grab her hands to keep her from scrubbing her stitches off in a frenzy to try and get clean. But she couldn’t get clean. It was impossible. No matter how much soap she used it was like their touch just couldn’t be wiped off. It left her feeling hollow inside. Empty like an egg without a yolk. 

Cheryl glanced at her, taking in the injuries for a moment. “Those dim-witted vertebrates didn’t bother you, did they?” She asked in a sharp tone. Lav knew she was talking about Fangs and Pea. “I don’t know why FP assigned them of all people to look after you. He should have asked me and TT to do it. We’re much better at it.” 

Lavender smiled, ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach. “You are.” She said, though her thoughts went back to how Sweet Pea had treated her wounds with such delicacy. “But they’ve been really good.” 

She ignored the look on Cheryl’s face. “Even the jolly green giant?” It wasn’t a secret that Lavender and Sweet Pea didn’t get along. Everyone knew it. Everyone felt the tension between them. They mixed like oil and water. She was just a Northsider to him. It was infuriating. 

“He dressed my cuts earlier…” Lav admitted to the red-head. There was a flash of pink growing on her non-bruised cheek. 

A look of fury passed Cheryl’s features, “if that pervert laid one misplaced finger on you-“ 

Lav quickly cut her off, “no, he was really…sweet? But he kept getting angry and I don’t know why. He called me a dumbass.” 

That didn’t sit well with Cheryl. She felt like an idiot after Nick. She understood some of the vulnerability that Lav was feeling. “You’re not stupid, Lavie. You hear me? This was not your fault.” 

The tone of Cheryl’s voice startled Lav. It was sharp and laced with loathing. Lav gave her a pleading look, lifting up her head, “But-“ 

“No buts!” Cheryl chastised, “Those insufferable mongrels did something horrible to you, Lavender. Something absolutely atrocious and you didn’t ask for it and you surely didn’t deserve it. _You are not stupid_.” 

Lavender was quiet then, looking down at the bubbly water. “Can you help me wash my hair…?” She asked timidly, not wanting to upset Cheryl again. Girl was more terrifying that Sweet Pea when she was angry. 

“Of course!” A smile broke across her face and she put her phone down to help Lav with her hair. 

Hours later when Fangs came in he found all three girls half naked in Lav’s full sized bed cuddled against one another, sleeping soundly. He smiled at the sight, the moment only being ruined by the loud snore that came from Sweet Pea in the living room. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Your hair is so soft, Lavie.” Fangs commented as he ran his fingers through the purple waves for the hundredth time. Lav mumbled something incoherent in response. The pain medication made her drowsy and though she had been fighting sleep since she woke up around seven, Fang’s touch was making her lose that fight. “What was that?” 

“Cheryl washed it for me.” She said a little louder, her eyes opening and her head lifting a little to look at him. “She massaged my scalp and everything.” 

“Lucky.” Fangs said, pouting slightly, “I want Cheryl to give my head a massage.” 

Lav laughed lightly, her eyes glancing over to Sweet Pea who looked more miffed now than he did before. “Get a room.” He said hotly. 

She shifted in Fangs’ lap so he could tell that she was looking at him. “Jealous?” Lav asked, a playful note in her voice. “You want to run your hands through my hair too, SP?” 

He shot her a glare, “as if, Rhodes.” He said back with venom, however Fangs just laughed at his reaction. “You can do better than some Northsider, Fogarty.” He added. 

“Nah, this Northie is pretty hot.” Fangs said with a shrug, earning a smile from Lavender. She let out a small giggle as he smiled back at her. 

Sweet Pea stood up from the couch, not being able to take it anymore. “I need a drink.” He said before storming into her kitchen to raid her fridge. 

“I’m out of beer.” She called out to him, shock ebbing onto her features as he came back with a bottle in hand. He opened it and took a swig. The look on his face smug for proving her wrong. 

She looked at Fangs, “you brought booze?” 

Fangs’ eyes looked over to Pea’s tall form. “Not exactly. Sweets did some grocery shopping since you had no food.” 

Lav scoffed, “I had plenty of food.” 

“Noodles and Swiss rolls are not food!” Sweet Pea bit back, “I got us real food.” 

She suddenly felt bad that he had spent his money on food for her. Well, not exactly for _her_ per se. It was for her house at least. “I’ll pay you back.” 

“Yea, you will.” Pea said pointedly, sitting back down. “Later.” He added after taking another sip of beer. The lack of annoyance in his tone surprised her a little. She looked at Fangs as if to get confirmation of what he just said. The teen was just smiling in response as his hand snaked around her waist, careful not to touch her bruised ribs. 

Sweet Pea was doing his best not to stare at them. He didn’t know why it was bothering him so much. Normally when Fangs was hitting on a girl or being overly affectionate, he rooted his friend on in his quest to get laid. 

He concluded that he was just annoyed because Lav was from the Northside and he still saw her as a Northsider despite the fact that she was a serpent. Betty had done the dance too after all and she still wasn’t really a serpent either. Playing both sides. Pea figured that’s what made him so irritable around her. He didn’t know what side she was truly on. 

A silence fell between the three of them as Lav rested her head on Fangs’ shoulder. Fangs finally asked a question that he’d been wondering about since he got Pea’s desperate messages on how to console screaming, hysterical girls. “Did you have a nightmare?” He asked gently, as if the question would upset her. 

Lav didn’t answer right away. “Yes.” She finally mumbled after deciding it was best to answer him. “I had them in the hospital too but I was too doped up to react to them.” 

“Did you have one when you were sleeping with Cheryl and Toni?” He wondered out loud, knowing he hadn’t heard so much as a peep from her until after she woke up. 

She shook her head, “no, I guess them both holding me helped.” It was cute to see the purple haired girl in a sandwich between the happy couple. Both of their arms wrapped around her protectively. 

“Okay but why were all three of you in nothing but underwear?” Fangs asked with a laugh, wondering if that was actually necessary though he didn’t mind the visual at all. 

Lav’s face flushed but he couldn’t see it since it was in his neck. Sweet Pea looked over at Fangs with an offended look, “you saw them in their underwear?” 

“I wanted to take a picture but Toni would have probably ripped me a new one.” Fangs said. “The door was wide open, you didn’t see?” 

“I saw plenty last night.” Sweet Pea replied, making Lav even more embarrassed. “I’m not into mummies.” She frowned, anger creeping up her spine. 

Fangs was about to make a comment when there was a knock on the front door. Sweets got up and answered it, showing Jughead. 

Jughead looked over at the scene of Lav sitting on Fang’s lap, head on his shoulder and face in his neck. He could tell she was looking at him through an aggravated side-eye. “We need to talk, Lavender.” 

Fangs unwrapped his arms from around her and sat back so she could get up. Luckily today she’d been able to move a little bit easier than the day before. Her muscles were still store but the Oxy seemed to be helping more now that the worst of it had passed. 

Lav stood up, taking her time as to not put any unnecessary strain on her stitches. “Let’s go to my room.” She said, not really having an idea about what Jug wanted to talk about but she already figured that it should be a private conversation. 

Jughead followed her into her room and he shut the door behind him. She crossed her arms over her chest as if trying to shield herself from him. “What is it?” 

He gave her a sympathetic look, putting her on edge. So many of her friends had been looking at her like that. Their eyes reflecting how bad they felt for her. The last thing Lav needed was a pity party. She just wanted to move on with her life even though she had basically holed herself up in her trailer all day keeping Fangs and Sweet Pea hostage there. 

“I need to know what the used.” He said vaguely. Lav knew exactly what he meant. The Ghoulies had used an object to defile her instead of their own bodies. It cut her up pretty bad in the process but luckily she didn’t need any stitches there. 

Lav turned away from him, her arms tightening around her. “No, you don’t.” She muttered, trying to will away the memory of them raping her. She had to concentrate hard to keep from falling apart at the thought. 

Jughead held back a sigh at her stubbornness. “We need to know, Lav. We have to know for sure that it was the Ghoulies.” 

“They were Ghoulies, Jug!” She snapped back, loud enough so that the boys in the other room could hear. “Why don’t you believe me?” There was an ounce of hysteria in her cracking voice. 

He wanted to console her but he honestly wasn’t sure how to. “They’ve done this before to two other Serpents. They used the same object, I just have to know what it was so that we’re one-hundred percent certain before we plan an attack.” 

Lavender let out a harsh laugh, “so my word doesn’t hold much in the court of Jones, huh?” She asked, choosing to meet his eyes. There was a fire ablaze in her gaze. The weakness seemed to dissolve as she stood up straight, turning towards him fully. “Fuck you, Jug. Not you or anyone else needs to know!” 

The truth was she was too embarrassed to say. She was too humiliated. Telling them what the Ghoulies had used was like admitting that it even happened. Her denial was clearly evident in how she was acting. Jughead had a twinge of guilt in his chest for upsetting her. He didn’t even want to have this conversation but his father had insisted that he make sure. That he covered every inch of this investigation with a fine-toothed comb. 

Too bad Lav was a knot that just wouldn’t give way to the plastic teeth. 

“If that’s all you came here to ask me, then just get out of my trailer.” Lavender seethed. 

Jughead took a step back from her to give her some more space. He shifted uncomfortably under her glare. “I’m sorry, Lav. You need to talk to someone about this eventually. I’m here for you when you decide the time is right.” 

Her response came in the sound of an angry huff. Jughead knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere else with this so he turned and opened the door to the room. He gave her one last worried look before opting to leave. 

Lav stayed in her room, gripping her arms tight to her chest as she shook with a mixture of anger, regret, and despair. She didn’t even see Fangs pop his head in to see if she was okay. “Hey, baby girl, just forget him.” He said. “Come on, let’s get wasted.”


	4. Discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took longer to churn out than I had planned. I wrote _Fireworks_ in between chapters to kind of give myself a bit of a break. I'm a little stuck on this fic now, not entirely sure where to go with it. I think I'll start bringing in plot points from the show to help me along though they're not going to cannonically line up. 
> 
> Fics have been cross-posted on my writing [tumblr](https://theangriestpea.tumblr.com/) where you can find updates and inspo posts!

Half a bottle of whiskey lay on her oak table, beer bottles littered around beside it. Lav was in Fangs’ lap again, turned sideways she that her feet were on the middle of the couch between both boys.

“So, question or a shot?” Fangs’ asked her with a devious smile. They were playing this stupid game where either you had to answer an (usually) intrusive question or take a shot of whiskey. It was to keep her mind off of what had just happened with Jughead. 

Lav’s stomach turned at the thought of another shot. She had avoided his questions almost entirely. Now that it was her turn again she knew she’d have to answer if she didn’t want to puke again. 

She let out a somewhat frustrated sigh, “question, I guess. Just go easy on me.” 

Fangs grinned, his grip around her waist tightening slightly as he laughed triumphantly. Sweet Pea glanced at them before taking a swig of beer, his grip on it straining the glass of the bottle. In his other hand he was going through Snap Chat, looking at photos Toni had posted recently. 

“Who was your greatest lay?” He asked, having wondered for a while. Lav was a tease but she didn’t really pursue sexual partners. That being known, he knew she wasn’t a virgin because she had told him before during one of these games. 

Lavender rolled her eyes at him, thinking that he already knew the answer. If she lied then he’d just challenge her and make her take a shot. “You.” 

Sweet Pea nearly choked, he had no idea Fangs and Lav had slept together. He was immediately offended that Fangs didn’t tell him about it. He shot his friend a narrow-eyed look. How could he keep this from him? Maybe he was embarrassed to have fucked a Northsider. 

“Hate to break it to you, baby girl, but we’ve never had sex. I’d remember.” Fangs said, clearly amused by her thinking that they’d done it and that he was the best. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. As much as he liked Lav and loved the prospect, he wouldn’t overstep their friendship like that. Not unless she really wanted to. 

Lav gave him a look that was ebbed with confusion, “it was last Fourth of July. At the Wyrm. We’d been playing pool and I got stupid drunk off of an Old Fashioned and tequila. You left bruises that lasted almost two weeks.” 

Fangs shook his head, “I was outside all night with the fireworks. Tall Boy put me in charge of them. I barely had anything to drink that whole night.” 

Sweet Pea’s tan face blanched. “Fuck!” He snarled out as he stood up abruptly while placing his phone into his back pocket. Then he stormed out of the trailer, slamming the door behind him so hard that the picture frames on the walls shook. 

The teens looked at each other silently wondering what the hell had just happened. “Maybe someone snapped him a dick pic?” Lav asked, not really knowing if that would cause that kind of reaction but also figuring that it would. 

Fangs laughed at the thought, “I like dick pics.” 

Lav rolled her eyes, “because you like dicks, dummy. I don’t think Sweet Pea does…does he?” She was suddenly confused. She’d seen him with plenty of girls but never with any guys. 

“Nah, he doesn’t swing that way. A shame, really.” Fangs joked. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Sweet Pea threw his half empty beer bottle onto the ground, the green glass shattering against the dirt. He had retreated into his trailer where he was flipping furniture and smashing lamps. Anything to get this aggression out. The heat of fury on his brain making his pursuit of destruction relentless. 

It couldn’t have been her. The girl he slept with in the back of the Wyrm of the Fourth was blonde. She was taller. She never said her name but fuck it couldn’t have been her. In the back of his mind a voice was telling him that this was why her body looked so familiar, this is why he recognized her almost bare form that night on the side of the road before he even saw her face. 

He punched the wall in a fit of rage, the drywall easily giving in under the force and leaving a massive hole. His eyes roved up to the American Flag that was pinned up above the now cushion-less couch. What would his father think if he knew he’d hooked up with some whore from the north side of the tracks? 

Pea almost instantly regretting thinking that, knowing deep down that Lav wasn’t a whore. She hadn’t seemed to have hooked up with anyone since then. Not to mention she had said he was the best she’d ever had. Christ, she was the tightest he’d ever had, though the quickie wasn’t necessarily something to brag to his friends about. 

He cursed at himself again, throwing another punch at the plaster to create an even bigger hole. For fuck’s sake, he had liked the girl he was with that night. The way she showed off her assets to him by bending over the pool table. The manner in which she threw her head back with each shot. The catty glances and tiny smirks on her red lips. How she effortlessly let him manhandle her around in the stock room. There was no possible way it could have been her. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Toni had come over later than night to help cook some dinner for all of them. Cheryl had accompanied her in the usual fashion. They arrived to see Fangs and Lav drunk out of their minds with a mess of empty bottles all across the living room. 

“Should she really be drinking?” Toni asked incredulously. She didn’t like the idea of them being hammered if another pack of Ghoulies were to roll up and try and finish the job they had started. If they even knew where she lived, of course. 

Fangs shrugged, taking a final swig of beer. “She’s fine.” He slurred, pulling Lavender against him. 

Lav let out a light giggle at him. “Hey, Toni. I have a question. You remember the Fourth of July?” 

“Of course I do, I was the only sober one inside.” Toni said with a roll of her eyes. There was a faint smile on her lips though. “Do you remember who I was with?” Lav asked, hoping that Toni would know the answer to the question as to who she had slept with that night. Both she and Fangs had been dying to know. It had to have been another Serpent, there was no other explanation. One of the other teenagers, definitely…hopefully. 

Toni was silent for a moment, “You were both pretty hammered.” She said, thinking back to that night. “But you were with Sweet Pea. He took you to the back room and you two made some pretty impressive noises.” 

Lav’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. Fangs nearly jumped from the couch, the only thing keeping him seated was the weight of her on top of him. “I fucked Sweet Pea and you never told me?!” She asked, her voice raising an octave in desperation. Not only had she slept with him but she had admitted in front of him that it was great. 

The tan girl gave her a puzzled look. “I just thought it was so bad that you two never wanted to talk about it. That’s why you were always fighting.” 

Cheryl was shocked as well, “you let that behemoth take advantage of Lavie?” She asked. As interesting as she found this turn of events, she felt sorry for Lav. For the look on her face was so distraught, like she’d been punched in the stomach with a strong fist. 

“I didn’t know her yet.” Toni said after shrugging it off, “Plus she kissed him first.” 

She had forgotten about that too. She remembered him guiding her to the dimly lit room and him asking her how she liked it. He forced her to say a few choice things that she didn’t want to admit out loud. “Did I?” 

Toni laughed lightly, “Oh yea, grabbed him by the dog togs and planted one right on him.” An amused expression crossed her face as Lav looked horrified. It’s not like she wasn’t physically attracted to Sweet Pea but he seemed to absolutely loathe her. 

“That’s why he stormed out…” Lav said, starting to panic, “he figured it out.” She squirmed out of Fangs’ grasp. 

Cheryl looked over the scene before her, “So you’re saying that neither of you remembered a night of hot passion in the back of that hazy excuse of a bar?” 

Lav was standing, pain etching its way through her bruised ribcage. She held it briefly before starting to pace back and forth. “Not until a few hours ago…” She mumbled, obviously embarrassed by the whole thing. “Sweet Pea yelled and left in a hurry after I-“ She cut herself off, not wanting to admit once again that she had actually _really_ enjoyed sex with Sweets. It just wasn’t fucking fair. 

Toni was giving her more inquisitive looks, “after you what?” 

“She said sex with him was the best she’d ever had.” Fangs said gently, not really knowing what Lavender was feeling as she moved back and forth. They could see the unblemished skin on the side of her face turn bright red. She could feel the pull of the stitches on her thighs. Her cast laid heavy in her crossed arms. 

Both girls tried not to laugh. Not at their stressed friend but at the situation. “Sweet Pea hates me. He’s going to hate me even more now that he realizes we had sex.” Lav said, stopping for a moment to rub her eyes. “This is so fucked.” 

Fangs shook his head, “Sweets doesn’t hate you. I keep telling you that and you don’t believe me. He just has this thing about Northsiders, something his pops ingrained into him as a kid. You know what they’ve done to us. Raid our school before closing it down completely. Throw FP in jail. Hell they’ve thrown all of us in jail as some point except for maybe Jughead. They write horrible things about us in their papers, blaming us for all of their problems. He doesn’t understand that just because you lived over there, that doesn’t mean you’re one of them. You’re dad lived on the Southside your entire life. You visited him twice a month until your mom left.” 

Lav sat down next to him leaning against him for even more support. He put his arm around her shoulders. “Didn’t you practically grow up with Jughead? SP used to say he was a Northsider too. Still does sometimes when his friends come around.” She let out a sigh. Sweet Pea had been so vehemently against her from the start and she had no idea why. She did the dance, she shouted the laws to a crowded bar. Hell sometimes she still got up and swung around on the pole when she was drunk enough. Why was she never good enough for him? And why did she have this sinking feeling I her stomach at the thought of him being so angry with her? 

Pea had never hit a girl before. She had no reason to think he’d be violent towards her, but after recent events…Her head was fluttering with anxiety induced panic. Worst of all, she knew he’d be back. He had to come back. FP’s orders. 

“What am I supposed to do?” She asked, really having no idea what the next step was. So she had sex with Sweet Pea and it was great, so what. She wasn’t the only girl he’d slept with. Maybe the only Northsider but not the only Serpent. This didn’t change anything. She knew that night she was just going to be another notch in his bedpost, and she didn’t care then so she shouldn’t care now. 

Fangs got up. “I’ll go talk to him while Toni stays here and cooks.” There was a smile tugging on his lips. “Okay? Just give me some time and I’ll fix this.” 

Lav looked up at him with hopeful eyes, “thanks, Fangs. You’re the best.” 

“I thought Sweet Pea was the best?” He joked, earning a glare to his back as he left. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Sweet Pea was on his porch smoking a cigarette. It was the third one in a row. Why was he so damn bent about this piece of information? Maybe it was because he had tried so hard to convince himself that he didn’t like her. That he didn’t notice the languid way her hips swayed to music when it was playing at the Wyrm. Or the little laugh she would let out when Fangs said something particularly dumb. The look she’d give any guy flirting with her as if telling them they didn’t have a chance. It wasn’t the look she’d given him on Independence Day. It wasn’t hungry or full of want. It wasn’t reciprocated. It had never been reciprocated except that night when he approached her and demanded that she play a round of pool with him. If he was going to be honest, then he had been searching for that girl every night since. A second round sounded great. He wondered what else he could convince her to do for him since she gave in so easily to his commands, even obviously turned on by them. 

Fangs walked up to him with an oddly serious look on his face. It wasn’t something Sweets usually saw outside of Serpent meetings. “So how was it?” 

“How was what?” Sweets asked dumbly, pretending that he didn’t know what his best friend was talking about. 

“Banging Lavi in the back room.” Fangs asked, a hint of smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. His comment earned him a heated glare from the smoking teenager. 

He knew he’d been found out. Lav didn’t seem to remember much more than he did. “It wasn’t her, that girl was blonde.” Pea said after taking another drag. 

Fangs rolled his eyes, “Lav was a blonde before she went purple. You don’t remember?” 

Pea honestly didn’t. He paid as little attention to her as possible. Perhaps in the time between their rendezvous and him being formally introduced to her, she had dyed her hair. It was plausible. “She was taller.” 

“She was probably wearing heels, dumbass.” Fangs said with a sigh, sitting down beside his friend on the stoop. “Look I know she looked hot that night, I remember her outfit because I helped her pick it out. Toni said she kissed you first so fuck, no one blames you for giving into that kind of temptation. I don’t get what the big deal is. She’s a Serpent by blood. It’s not like anyone outside our circle knows. Though Cheryl and Toni found it awfully amusing…” 

Sweet Pea let out a growl, “if they fucking tell anyone-“ 

“I don’t think they will.” Fangs cut him off. “Out of respect for Lavender…You still didn’t answer my question.” 

Pea shot him a warning look that told Fangs to back off or he’d get the same treatment the inside of his trailer did. “It was fine.” He muttered after snuffing out his cigarette. “She came too fast.” 

Fangs stifled a laugh. “Isn’t that usually your problem?” 

Sweet Pea punched him in the arm to shut him up. Fangs yelped in pain and rubbed the spot on his bicep with a pout on his lips. “I really liked her though.” Sweet Pea admitted, hanging his hand a little as if he had lost the battle to keep secrets from his friend. 

“So? I get you have this thing with Northsiders but her father lived on the Southside for years. She spent a lot of time in this trailer park too.” Fangs let out a small sigh, “right now we have a job to do, so push all that shit aside and let’s go eat whatever Toni decided to make.” 

Pea ran a hand through his hair, “fine.” He grumbled in defeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprised? Shanna is Lavender's legal name. Though it can be read as a one-shot, _Fireworks_ Is actually from this fic's universe. If you want to read what happened between Sweet Pea and Lavender that night, then pop on over to give it a read. 
> 
> I really hate this chapter and could not think of a good ending to save my life. But I wanted to post something rather than nothing.


	5. Apologies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a little short. I just thought ending it where I did was perfect. There's a tiny bit of fluff though so enjoy! Cross-posted on Tumblr.
> 
> As always, follow my writing tumblr for updates: https://theangriestpea.tumblr.com

Dinner was strained. No one mentioned the elephant in the room. Lavender and Sweet Pea could barely look at one another. Fangs struggled to keep conversation going but it was hard when it was all one-sided. Toni and Cheryl kept stealing glances at one another, also having a hard time coping with this newfound turn to events.

“I have to watch my sister again tonight. Mom is working.” Fangs said, checking the time on the old clock in the kitchen where they were cleaning up. 

Lav almost dropped the dish she was rinsing off. “What? You can’t stay?” She asked, a pleading edge to her voice. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with a moody Sweet Pea. “Cheryl and Toni have that River Vixens event tonight so they will be gone…I was hoping you’d lay in bed with me to help me sleep.” 

As much as she hated depending on everyone, she had figured that Fangs would at least be kind enough to hold her like Cheryl and Toni did early that morning. Of course she was going to wear something that covered her a little more. Not that she didn’t trust him but she wasn’t as comfortable parading around in her underwear with him. Now that she knew that they hadn’t had sex, she felt incredibly awkward around him. As if the mistake might have offended him. 

Of course Fangs was just flattered that she even entertained the thought of having a rough romp with him in the Wyrm. Though he was somewhat jealous of Sweet Pea having a go at her, he wasn’t going to say anything to Lav about it to make her any more uncomfortable than she obviously already was. 

“Ask Sweet Pea.” Fangs suggested, only half joking. He knew deep down that his bestie was a cuddler. He’d seen the way he’d hold a pillow as he slept. The material clutched tightly to his chest as if he were protecting the old down feathers hidden inside. 

Lav almost dropped the dish _again_. “I am not laying in a bed alone with Sweet Pea.” She hissed out, the suggestion being completely out of the question. “There’s no fucking way.” 

“Why? You’ve already casually fucked. Once you two both talk about it, it’ll be a lot better. Maybe this is a good thing, maybe he’ll realize what a nice piece of ass you are and stop pushing you away.” Fangs said as he lifted his shoulders into a dismissive shrug. 

She decided to ignore his comment about her just being a piece of tail. Usually when Fangs objectified women he was just joking about it. He was never serious. “He won’t.” She replied hotly. “He’ll never say yes.” She added after a moment of thought. “He probably didn’t even enjoy it.” 

Fangs laughed lightly, “I think he did and that’s why he was so mad. Though he did say you came too soon.” 

Lav blushed furiously as she smacked him on the arm, “that’s not funny! I couldn’t help it! I haven’t…I haven’t had a lot of sex so I still don’t know what I’m doing half the time.” 

“So you got over excited and Sweet Pea was just so fucking _good_ that you got overwhelmed and couldn’t hold back. It happens to the best of us.” Fangs said with a lopsided smile. “Maybe next time you can go longer or just have multiple.” 

She shoved him with her good hand, “we are not doing it again!” 

“But you enjoyed it so much!” Fangs said, trying to persuade her that it wasn’t a terrible idea. “And have you even had sex since then?” 

Lav looked away from him, still embarrassed, “well, no…but that’s because all the guys around here are jerks. Including Sweet Pea.” 

“What about me?” Fangs said with an adorable pout. 

She rolled her eyes, “except you, Fogarty. You’re still the best I ever had, even if it was just in my dreams.” She joked. 

“Oh so you have dreamed of me?” Fangs said, his pout sliding into a smirk. “Good to know.” 

Lav let out a playful scoff. In the next room she heard the TV being turned up louder. It had to have been Sweet Pea since the Vixens had left already. She shot a look to the doorway that showed how annoyed she was at the loud sounds of explosions coming from the living room. 

Fangs finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher. “There, all done. Now, I have to go. Have fun tonight and don’t forget to use a condom.” 

“Fangs!” Lav snapped, hitting him a third time. “No!” She said as if he were a dog doing something bad. He chuckled, shaking his head as he walked out. He said his goodbyes to Sweets before leaving. 

Lavender stood in the kitchen for a moment before gathering up her courage. She walked into the living room, eyes pulling to Sweet Pea as he stared intently at the television. “It’s time for you to take your pills.” He said in a voice that was indiscernible. It wasn’t as rough as it usually was but it wasn’t soft either. Somewhere in between as if he didn’t really know how to say it. As if his feelings were just as conflicted as hers. 

She gave a small nod, disappearing into her room to take her antibiotics and pain medicine. “Sweet Pea…?” She called out to him, just loud enough for him to hear over the booming television. 

Silence filled the trailer as he cut the TV off and walked into her room. Confusion washed over his eyes as he noticed her in nothing but bra and underwear. He jaw clenched and his fingers twitched as he remembered what it felt like to touch her that night. He tried to push the memories into the back of his mind where he wouldn’t have to think about them. 

“Can you dress my cuts?” Lav asked sheepishly, not looking at him. Her eyes stayed glue to the floor. 

Sweet Pea let out a soft sigh before nodding his head. He walked over to her and just as he had the night before, started to tend to her healing wounds. His touch was delicate and light. His hands however lingered on her thighs, tracing the oval bruises as his thoughts ran deep. 

Lav shuddered under his fingertips, however she didn’t say anything to him. She let him treat her cuts at his own pace. Her lower lip caught between her teeth as he looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time. It was so unnerving that her knees began to shake. 

“I’m sorry.” Sweet Pea said after addressing the laceration on her stomach. He had been reamed by Cheryl for what he said to Lav about her being stupid. She made sure to tell him in her very intricate vocabulary that he was the one that was a dumbass and that what he had said had made Lav feel even worse than she already did. That hadn’t been his intention. She woefully set him straight. 

Their eyes connected and he realized that she had no idea what he was talking about. “For what I said.” He added, quickly looking away from her as his cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink. “For calling you dumb.” 

Her breath hitched in her throat as he stood up, having been kneeling down to tend to her thighs and abdomen. “You’re not stupid.” He added, sounding a little more confident in what he was saying. 

“Thanks.” Lav said, a ghost of a smile on her lips. A spark of happiness ignited through her chest. Sweet Pea had never apologized for the way he acted towards her. He never made excuses either. He just _was_. Perhaps this meant he didn’t hate her after all. Perhaps Fangs was on to something. 

Sweet Pea was tenderly touching her face now in a way that had her edging closer to him. He peeled back the tape and revealed the mars on her cheek. A frown graced his pink lips as he looked over the galaxy of her skin. The blue, purple, and blacks spreading across her face where her broken orbital bone was. The surface was swollen and angry. 

He dabbed ointment onto each cut, his eyes never leaving her face as he worked. Her smile became more visible as he went on, grabbing a new gauze pad to put over the wounds. 

“Will you sleep with me tonight?” She finally asked, her stomach a bundle of nerves from not knowing what his answer would be. His face was a mixture of confusion and frustration. His expression made her stomach drop and suddenly she felt very stupid for getting her hopes up. “You’re too big for the couch. You’ll fit better in my bed and…I don’t want to be alone.” She added, jumbling her words as she said them quickly. 

Sweet Pea mulled it over while they stood in an awkward, tense silence. Lav shifted nervously, her body acting like it was on repeat as she kept moving her weight from one foot to the other. 

He really hated her couch. It was lumpy and uncomfortable and his feet hung off the side. Her bed was only a full-size so they’d be touching but would that really be so bad? After what they had done that night at the Wyrm? After he cleaned her up and tended to her gashes. 

It was also highly likely that she’d wake him up screaming if he didn’t lie with her. That was not something he really wanted to go through again. “Let me change.” He replied, disappearing from her room as his hand dropped from touching her face. “Put some clothes on!” He shouted from the living room and he rummaged through his bag of clothes. 

Lav shook her head, smiling again as a blossom of excitement bloomed inside of her. She took off her bra before putting on an oversized T-shirt and a pair of cloth shorts. Getting dressed was easier now that the worse of the pain had dissipated. Her ribs and face still ached terribly but that was to be expected. Between her legs, her core was sore as the cuts were still healing. She let out a sigh, closing her eyes tight so she wouldn’t have to think about it. 

_“I need to know what they used.”_ Jughead’s voice sounded in her head. Water filled her eyes and she used the heels of her hands to gently rub them dry. He didn’t need to know, she thought bitterly. No one needed to know. 

She turned the light out before crawling into bed, curling into as tight of a ball as possible without hurting her fractured bones. _I need to know-_ her thought was interrupted by the sinking of the bed. Sweet Pea laid down beside her in a pair of plaid pajama pants and a tight white tank top. 

She looked at him with a terribly fragile expression. One that made him wrap his arm around her and pull her to his chest securely for comfort. He didn’t know what he was doing or why he was doing it. It just felt natural. 

Lav didn’t fight him, she leaned back against him and let out a small breath of relief. His arm was around her small waist, in a perfect spot between the mess of gauze on her lower stomach and the bands of cloth around her ribs. His nose nestled sweetly into her hair as if it were meant to have been there all along. 

Feeling safer than she had in a long time, Lav fell asleep. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Her clothes were ripping, her skin was aching, and all she could hear was cruel laughter falling from black painted lips. Hollow eyes glittering with heinous joy as their claws tore into her flesh. Blood splattered around her, pooling against her cold body. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe. Her limbs felt like they were wrapped in cement as firm grips held her down. 

Her legs were pulled apart and she felt as if she was being torn. Light glinted off the blades that were being used to etch scars into her skin. It blinded her with pain. It seemed to last for hours, darkness creeping across her body as she was abased by what was happening to her. 

_Lav_

They pulled on her limbs and she felt as though she might rip in half. 

_Lavender_

She felt herself tearing down the middle. Her mouth opened but no sound came from her chapped lips as she tried to wretch out a scream. 

_Shanna_

The darkness started fade. The cement around her limbs dissolving. Her tarnished tissue healing itself as her body was once again whole. 

Lavender opened her eyes. Her wide pupils swept away with panic as they searched over the baby face hovering over her. Strong arms on either side of her. She felt trapped, claustrophobic. Brown eyes full of emotions she couldn’t name as she searched them for malice or contempt. She found none. 

Her thoughts buzzed around like bees in her head before settling into the hive of her brain. Recognition came over her as she realized that the boy over her wasn’t going to hurt her. “Sorry.” She muttered, dry eyes suddenly becoming wet, “I’m so sorry.” 

Sweet Pea stared down at her, finally moving off to the side to simply hold her as she cried. The awkward feeling in his chest didn’t move as he searched for words he knew he didn’t want to say. “It’s okay.” He mumbled, his grip on her tight like it was that night in the bar. “It’s okay.”


	6. Familiar Faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder that this story is somewhat AU and does not follow the story line of the show. There's not a lot of Sweets in this chapter and I apologize but we need some mounting tension. It's a slow burn, remember? 
> 
> As always, follow my writing [tumblr](https://theangriestpea.tumblr.com) for updates, inspos, playlists, moodboards, recs, and more! Fics are cross posted!

It went on for two weeks. Mostly it was Fangs or Toni or Cheryl in her bed but a few times it was Sweet Pea and he held her the closest. Those nights Lav slept the best. Her dreams weren’t as vivid. She’d wake with a start sometimes but be instantly calmed by that now familiar scent. Woodsy with tiny notes of citrus fruit.

During the first week that school back, Lavender was excused. Cheryl brought her work and notes that she needed. She begrudgingly did her homework, mostly because she was lonely and didn’t know what else to do in her spare time while her friends were at Riverdale High. 

Lav hadn’t looked at her reflection since before the incident. She had avoided it at all costs. Now she was staring at it, unable to look away as she added more concealer onto her bruises. She no longer needed the gauze pads and her external stitches had been removed. No amount of makeup could cover the four scabs set across her cheek. 

The darkest spots of her bruising still showed through in a strange purple undertone. The swelling had gone down but hadn’t disappeared completely so even with most of the bruising hidden, you could tell something was off with her face. The longer she looked in the mirror, the more self-conscious she became. Her breathing became labored as panic invaded her chest. Underneath her shirt, her ribs ached at the sharp shallow breaths she was taking. 

“Lavender,” Fangs called out to her from the front door. “Let’s go! We’re going to be late!” 

She finally broke eye contact with herself and grabbed her book bag. She walked out of her bathroom and to the front door. Fangs was beaming at her as if nothing was wrong. As if it wasn’t too early in the morning to be out of bed. Why was he such a charmer? 

“Want me to carry your books?” He asked, looking almost hopeful. 

Lav quickly shot him down, “its fine. Maybe if my ribs start acting up more you can. We only have one class together, you can’t follow me all around school.” 

He sighed at her logic, “Alright, just get in the truck so we can go before all the good parking spots are gone.” 

She got into the passenger’s side and when they arrived at the school, she noticed Sweet Pea leaning against his bike as he smoked a morning cigarette. Their eyes connected for a brief moment before he quickly looked away as if he hadn’t noticed her. 

“Can I just skip?” Lavender asked, not liking the sinking feeling in her bruised gut. “I don’t need to come back today.” 

Fangs didn’t know exactly what was up with her. He figured she was just being self-conscious about her appearance. “You look great, Lavie. No one is going to say anything with us around. No Serpent left behind, remember?” He asked, his voice hopeful. 

“Right.” She muttered. “And in unity there is strength…” Lav wasn’t feeling any unity right about now so she sure as hell wasn’t feeling any strength. 

“Atta girl, let’s go.” Fangs said as he hopped out of the truck. He came around and got the door for her. She thanked him and held the straps of her book bag tightly. 

Throughout the school day, Lav could feel eyes on her. She could hear the whispers floating around her. Students sharing rumors of what had happened to her in tones they thought she couldn’t heard. 

But Lav had great hearing. 

And every word tore at her. Every syllable like a bat to her already broken ribs. More than once she found herself locked up in a bathroom stall, crying softly at just how hard this was. 

She had decided to skip her last class, not wanting anything more to do with this school or the people in it. After fixing her makeup she stepped out of the bathroom and headed for the door. 

“Hey, _Serpent Slut_ ,” Reggie called out, stepping in front of her to cut off her exit. Her bruised eyes narrowed at the smirk on his face, a few other bulldogs behind him looking equally as cocky. “Maybe you can clarify something for me and my boys.” 

Lav clutched the book she had in her arms close to her chest, her heart beat fast and loud in her ears. Reggie had never been her biggest fan. He always had some comment to make, usually something along the lines of her and Fogarty fucking. This was all because she shot him down when he made a pass at her during freshman year. After the scandal with Chuck came out, she was happy that she had dodged that bullet. She wasn’t a Serpent yet then. She still lived on the Northside. Both her parents were still alive… 

A lot had changed about her but nothing had changed about Reggie. 

“Rumor has it you stepped out on Fogarty to go suck off some Ghoulie.” His smirk seemed to widen as a horrified look crossed her face. He mistook it for meaning that she was guilty. “And some other Serpents found out and jumped you. Surprised they didn’t kick your loose ass out. You really think all that makeup is hiding anything?” 

Tears clung to her lower eyelids. Lav normally didn’t cry in front of people, choosing to shed tears in solace. She normally didn’t show weakness to anyone outside of her close circle of friends. However recent events had made her so damn emotional, so sensitive, so touchy…plus the comments she had heard all day circling around her in the halls and in the classrooms. The looks her teachers would give her. 

The other jocks were laughing at the look on her face, Reggie had the ultimate look of triumph for bringing her to tears. Now if only they would fall. He opened his mouth for the finishing blow, but stopped abruptly when a very tall Serpent loomed behind her. 

He placed a heavy hand on Lav’s shoulder, guiding her back gently to create space between the football captain and herself. She allowed herself to take a few steps backwards to accommodate him as he moved in front of her. “What’s wrong, Mantle? Can’t pick on someone your own size?” He seethed, exuding a protective kind of anger that made Lav’s heart flutter. 

In the time he spent blatantly ignoring her, she had convinced herself that he didn’t care about her. That those soft moments he showed her were only to pacify Fangs’ and FP’s requests to watch out for her. Perhaps that’s what he was doing now but it felt different. 

“What, she fucking you too Sweet Pea? Damn, she really gets around. Surprise you want her after she had her way with some Ghoul-“ Sweet Pea didn’t give Reggie a chance to finish before punching him square in the jaw. 

The shorter boy stumbled backwards. He was about to spring a counter attack with the help of his teammates when Principal Weatherbee intervened. “Both of you, my office, now.” He demanded in a tone that left no room for question. Sweet Pea looked utterly proud of himself as Reggie rubbed his bruising face. He straightened out his letterman’s jacket before following the principal to his office. 

Sweets glanced over his shoulder, giving Lav a once over to make sure she was okay. Their eyes connected just like they had this morning. And once again Sweet Pea turned away, this time to make it way towards the principal’s office. 

With the cost clear, Lav started to make her way towards the door again. Her insides a flurry of emotions. Hurt over what Reggie had said, relief for Sweets stepping in the help her, and a twinge of lust from him punching the football star. She shook her head, not liking the way that last one felt. 

One head of fading pink and one bright red head of hair came into her line of vision as her path was blocked once more. “The gym is that way.” Toni said flatly, pointing in the opposite direction in which Lav was headed. 

“I’m excused from gym.” Lav said a little too quickly. Her eyes were still inflamed from crying as she bit her lip nervously. 

Cheryl put a hand on her hip as she shifted her weight, “you still have to actually attend, _Purpura Serpenta_.” She said back without a beat, using the overly complicated nickname she used for Lav whenever she was scolding her. It roughly translated into _purple snake_ in Latin. 

Lavender let out a low groan of annoyance as both girls forced her to turn around and walk to class. “Now,” Toni said as she walked to Lav’s left, “why were you crying?” 

She hesitated, her steps faltering to the point where Cheryl grabbed her arm gently to tug her along. “Everyone is talking shit.” She mumbled, not wanting to go into specifics. “Sweet Pea had to punch Reggie…” She left it at that. 

“How are things with Sweets?” Toni asked with a small, victorious smile. “Fangs told me he caught you two _very_ close in bed the other morning.” 

Her cheeks flushed pink. “He’s been ignoring me.” Lav admitted to them. “He won’t look at me. He won’t talk to me. He gives me the cold shoulder. The only time he pays me any attention is when I ask him to come to bed, which is only when you three can’t be there.” There was a hurt look in her eyes. Nights with Pea had been such good ones that she didn’t understand his coldness to her during the day. In front of their friends he was a complete different person it seemed. 

She had the notion that he was ashamed of her. Ashamed of the time they did spend together. Sometimes it made her feel more used than from what the Ghoulies did to her. As if she was just a means to an end for him. A little physical contact to carry him over being lays. Her brain screamed at her, telling her she was nothing and worthless and ugly underneath all the makeup. 

Tears didn’t come to this time. Instead a quiet rage built up inside them. Fury for what had happened to her and for how her fellow students were treating her. How _he_ was treating her. 

“Sweets is just not used to actually having someone to hold all night.” Toni insisted. “Usually he makes his booty calls leave before morning. He’s been extra moody lately for some reason too. He probably just have stuff going on that we don’t know about. I know FP has been extra hard on him and Fangs recently. Telling them how they need to be taking care of you because it’s their job. I know him and Sweet Pea got into it. I could hear the yelling but couldn’t make out what they were saying.” 

They arrived at the locker rooms to change into their gym clothes. Lav wondered what SP had been yelling at their leader about. It wasn’t like him to catch an attitude with the Serpent King. Maybe he was just sick of her and was trying to get out of being her personal body guard. Though she certainly felt safer with the two boys around, it wasn’t totally necessary. She had healed enough that she could fight back and she never went anywhere alone. Really it was overkill for them to still be spending the night with her. Not that she didn’t appreciate it. 

Lav undressed slowly. She still couldn’t move her torso a whole lot without getting shocks of pain riveting through her. Taking her shirt off was especially hard. Toni and Cheryl were done way before her and the warning bell sounded for them to go out. Her fingers ran over the scab on the stomach, feeling ever tiny ridge in the healing mar. Her skin was now a sickly yellow color with large blotches of faded purple. “Come on, let’s get you dressed.” Toni said softly as she helped Lav pull her shirt on and get into a pair of sweat pants. She had opted not to wear shorts due to the bruising still on the majority of her legs. Though the shorts would cover the deep gashes, they wouldn’t cover the handprints and sporadic dark yellow spots littered across her light skin. 

Eventually she dragged herself to the gymnasium. The students were lazily sitting on the bleachers, waiting for the roll to be called. A few gave her a look over, making her shift uncomfortably. 

A pair of bright blues eyes caught her gaze. It was a boy she’d never seen before. He wore his dark brown hair short and had sharp features. His cheekbones looked like they could cut glass. His eyes roved over her before a pleased smile crossed his lips. There was something distinctly familiar about his eyes, as if she had seen them somewhere before. She couldn’t place where, but she _knew_ him. 

Cheryl saw the brief interaction and nudged Lav forward, as if telling her to go sit next to him. She hesitantly obliged, her hormones getting the best of her. “Class, meet James Colt. A new transfer.” The coach drawled as he looked over his class list. “Everyone give him the warm welcome Riverdale is known for.” 

The Serpents that transferred from Southside High all snorted in response. None of them had been given a warm welcome. Hell, even after Lav donned the Serpent leather she’d been given the cold shoulder and she went to Riverdale the entire time. “Rhodes, you’re doing laps today. Everyone else, we’ll be continuing our Soccer segment of the semester.” He continued, “Start stretching and we’ll begin our warmups.” 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

During the entire class, Lav couldn’t keep her eyes of James. He so expertly worked the soccer ball between his feet, making goals through even the more experienced goalies. Their eyes would catch and she’d see that bright smile. It was a little unnerving how familiar he felt. How she still couldn’t place him. The class ended with James walking up to Lav, running a hand through his sweat soaked hair. She had to admit that it was a good look for him. 

“So I’m new around here.” He started, his voice confident from the minimal interactions they’d held so far, “and I’ve been looking for someone to show me around.” 

She looked at him as if he had two heads. There was no doubt he had heard the things people were saying about her. Certainly he could see the bruises that her makeup couldn’t hide. Distrust curled in her stomach as she continued to stare, wondering what his end game was. “I can’t.” She finally said, her voice concealing the uneasy butterflies she had from someone giving her positive attention. It didn’t make any sense to her. 

He was the same height as Fangs which made him considerably shorter than Sweet Pea. Lav cursed herself for thinking of him. 

“Why not?” He prodded, obviously not going to leave without an answer despite the dismissal bell ringing loudly. His head cocked to the side cutely, blue eyes blinking as he looked at her. 

She felt her face flush. “It’s complicated.” She muttered. How could she explain that she had two equally buff body guards waiting to take her home? “But…” She added, biting her lip. She grabbed his hand and took out a pen, scrawling her number onto the back of it. “I’ll tell you all you need to know about Riverdale.” 

There was a glimmer of something in his eyes, a second of mischief that Lav didn’t actually catch. She was too busy staring at his soft lips. “Looking forward to it.” He said as a smirk tugged on the right half of his mouth. Lav noticed she was still holding his hand and quickly dropped it. “Don’t leave me hanging.” He added before turning to leave. 

All she could do was watch his retreating back as he headed to the showers. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Lavender let out another tiny giggle as she stared at her phone. She and James had been texting back and forth for a couple hours now, flirting heavily as she told him all the juicy details about Riverdale. The murders, the drugs, the gangs. Everything. He had moved here from Greendale and while he had heard some of it, he didn’t know the nuances that she did. 

Fangs snatched her phone from her, his curiosity finally getting the better of him. “Who keeps making you laugh like that?” He asked, flipping through the messages. Lav let him, not caring if he saw. He was one of her best friends after all. 

“This new guy in my gym class.” She said with a smile. She noticed Sweet Pea stiffen on his place on her couch. Lav dismissed it as him not liking her newfound giddiness. He seemed to prefer her to be miserable and moping. 

Fangs was smiling, “oh, he’s smooth.” He said, eyes sweeping over the texts quickly. The sound of a hissing snake signaled that she got a new message. “Looks like you’ve got a date, baby girl.” He said as he handed the phone back to her. 

Lav looked at the message. James had asked her to take him to this Chock’lit Shoppe she had gone on about. She looked at Fangs, “can I?” Her voice was small and needy. 

“No.” Sweet Pea quickly said in a harsh tone. It was the first thing he had said to her in days. “It’s too dangerous. You don’t even know this kid. Is he another Northsider?” Inside he was raging that she had seemed to fall so quickly to this new kid. He’d never seen her actively flirt with anyone before. Not anyone other than him that night at the Wyrm. 

Her face fell, eyes darkening in a pained sadness that pulled on Fangs’ heartstrings. “We can go with her.” He suggested, “Sit a few booths away?” 

Lavender grinned at him, throwing her arms around his neck in the tightest hug she could manage without hurting herself, “Thank you, Fangs.” As she hugged him, she sent daggers in Sweet Pea’s direction with her eyes. He only returned the favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Purpura serpenta_ roughly translates to “Purple Snake”, Purpura for purple and serpens for snake. Serpens is masculine so I altered it to “serpenta” (from the genitive sperentis) to make it feminine since Lav is a girl. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve taken Latin so if I’m wrong, feel free to correct me. 
> 
> Anyway that's the title of the collection of all things Lav x Sweet Pea. I have Sunday off but I work eight hours tomorrow. I have a few plot points figured out with this new character coming in. Sorry my roll has seemed to have slowed. I've burned myself out a little.


	7. Jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expect some angry pea, jealous pea, douche bag pea. Nothing sweet about this chapter. Probably won't update until later next week. I meant to make this one longer but that didn't happen. It's a little over 2400 words and I try to aim for 3k. 
> 
> Cross posted on [Tumblr](https://theangriestpea.tumblr.com/). Find inspo posts, mood boards, updates, playlists, and more!

Lavender was sipping on her chocolate strawberry milkshake at Pop’s. There was a distinct smile on her lips as she listened to James talk. She tried counting every freckle on his cheeks but gave up after the fifth try.

A few booths away Sweet Pea and Fangs sat, eating burgers. “Jealousy looks good on you, Sweets.” Fangs said with a sly smile. “I think I should call you Jealous Pea from now on.” 

“Shut the fuck up, Fogarty. I’m not jealous, I just don’t trust him.” Sweet Pea said lowly. His eyes boring holes into the back of Lav’s head. “It’s our job to make sure she’s safe.” 

“Lav’s a smart girl.” Fangs shrugged, obviously not worried. “And he’s hot as hell, I don’t blame her.” 

Sweet Pea’s eyes moved to his friend, narrowing in anger. “She’s not that smart. Walking by herself all alone in the middle of the night so she could get attacked in the first place.” 

Fangs stared back at him, his own orbs were placid. “Any of us could have made that mistake, honestly. It could have been any Serpent walking home to keep from driving. She just happened to be the one walking down the street that night. A victim of circumstance.” 

The taller boy made an unimpressed grunt in response, taking a large bite of burger to silence any more of his thoughts. Deep down though, he knew that Fangs had a point. It could have been any one. 

“So why Lavender?” James asked her having finished telling her a story about how he broke his ankle during a soccer tournament, showing sympathy for her broken wrist. “Is it because you like pastels? I noticed you wearing a lot of them at school.” 

Lav pulled away from her straw with a sheepish grin, “Lavender is my favorite color. My dad got me lavender converse as a present and I pretty much never take them off. I guess I got kind of known for them around the Southside so when people didn’t know my actual name they just called me _the girl with the lavender shoes_. Then after I dyed my hair the same color it simply got shortened to Lavender.” She explained. “I don’t think half of the older Serpents even know my real name.” 

“Is that a bad thing?” He asked appearing to be genuinely curious. 

She shrugged as she took another sip of her milkshake, “not really. I like my nickname more than my real name anyway.” 

James nodded, appreciating her honest answer. “So, was your car totaled?” He asked then. 

A perplexed look crossed Lavender’s face, making him clarify. “In the car wreck.” 

How could she had forgotten that she blamed her injuries on a car wreck? She mentally smacked herself for being such an idiot. “It was my friend’s car.” She lied. “It was a crumpled mess.” Really it was her that had been the crumpled mess. 

He smiled at her, pearly white teeth shining. “I’m glad you’re okay. Well, relatively.” 

She looked away from him, embarrassed. No one had actually said that to her. That they were glad she was okay. That was because they all knew that she wasn’t. It was a façade. One that melted away in the night when she woke up in terror in the arms of a friend. Sadness pulled on her heart and she did her best to not show it on her face. 

James either didn’t notice the desperate look in her eyes or didn’t care enough to comment. “Do you know that guy? He keeps glaring at me.” He nodded towards the table where Fangs and Sweet Pea sat. 

Lav turned her head to look at Sweet Pea. He was too obstinate to turn his head away, his glower only getting darker when he noticed Lav turn around. She quickly turned back around, not bothering to catch his deep brown eyes with her bright hazel ones. “Unfortunately.” She muttered as she fiddled with her straw. “Just ignore him.” 

“Kind of hard when he’s trying to murder me with a look.” James said, laughing softly. The melodious sound causing Lav to smile. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought about how it wasn’t quite as nice as Sweet Pea’s laugh that she so very rarely heard but loved nonetheless. She stirred her milkshake in hopes to will the thought even further away. 

“How’s your milkshake?” She asked, changing the subject. “I hope I didn’t hype it up too much.” 

He sat back against the vinyl seat, a smirk on his face that caused Sweet Pea to bang his fist against the table in annoyance. James’ eyes flicked to him with amusement dancing at the Serpent’s reaction before looking back at Lavender. “Oh, you definitely didn’t. It’s probably the best shake I’ve ever had.” 

The sly look on his face was almost recognizable. Once again she found herself certain that she’d seen it before. “Have we met before?” She asked, finally working up the nerve to ask him. “Because you seem so familiar sometimes. Like I know you.” 

He noticed her lean in slightly, her voice the slightest bit quieter as if she didn’t want the other boys to hear. He leaned in too, ending some of the distance that was between them and making her slightly uncomfortable at his closeness. “I think I’d remember a girl as pretty as you.” He said coolly and her heart ached in response. She never thought someone could call her pretty again. Not after what happened to her. Not after she felt so terribly unattractive to all mankind. 

Their mutual stare broke when Lav noticed a black clad figure come into her peripheral vision. “We’re leaving, Rhodes.” Sweet Pea said, leaning over her threateningly, making her feel so incredibly small and helpless. 

“She hasn’t even finished her milkshake.” James said, obviously not caring about the size difference between him and Sweet Pea. “Besides, I think it’s up to her to decide when to go or not.” 

Again Sweets gave James a murderous look but the boy didn’t flinch. “Is he your ex or something?” He asked Lav, causing her to scoff at the mere thought. Sweet Pea was so vile towards her, there was no way they’d ever be a couple. The only history they had was their one night stand months ago. 

“No!” They said at the same time, both equally enraged by the idea that they were lovers lost. The tone in each other’s voice hurting them equally. Like maybe there was something there and they were squashing it with every ounce of power that they had. 

Lav drank some more of her drink before adding. “Like James said, _I’m not done with my milkshake_. Fangs will give me a ride when I’m done.” 

His fists clenched, knuckled white and nails digging into his palms. James snorted at Sweets’ name. “Sweet Pea? Bet there’s a good story behind that one.” 

Fangs quickly inserted himself between Sweet Pea and the table, facing Lavender with an apologetic expression. “He’s right. Time to go, Lavie. We have something we need to do.” 

It was her turn to be aggravated. Her glare ascending onto Fangs’ with blistering fire. “Like what?” She snapped, being totally used to Sweet Pea trying to ruin her fun but not Fangs’. He was supposed to be her best friend. He was supposed to be supportive. 

Now he was ruining everything and she didn’t know why. 

“Serpent business.” He said cryptically. Lav knew that if that were indeed the case then he wouldn’t divulge any details in front of the outsider. 

She let out an extremely frustrated sigh, “I’m sorry. I’ll see you at school tomorrow. Thanks for the milkshake.” 

“Anytime, beautiful.” James said with another blinding smile. Her heart melted into a puddle in her broken ribs as she slid out of the booth. She purposefully didn’t look at either leather clad boy as she walked out of the diner, hips swaying slightly as if to give James a show and to piss Sweet Pea off all in one swoop. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

There was no serpent business and Lavender was beyond pissed. She had spent the rest of the night not speaking to either boy, instead she’d taken to her room. She took a long shower, scrubbing at her body until her scabs bled. She wanted to scream but instead let the pain of her open wounds distract her. It had been the first day since the attack that she’d completely forgotten about it for just a little while. The first time she’d truly been too distracted to think about all of those hands roaming over her and holding her down. They had ripped away the tiny bit of relief she had been feeling and she was boiling with rage. 

Fangs tried to apologize but she wasn’t having it. She had expected this kind of behavior from Sweet Pea but not from him. The fist of her good hand slammed into the tiled wall, the sound echoing throughout the bathroom. Small shocks of pain flashed in her tiny bones from the force of it. 

She turned the water off finally and stepped out, ripping the plastic bag off of her cast and drying herself off with an old blue towel. In the mirror she stared at all the yellow and purple bruises. With her makeup gone she could see every splotch of color and it made her stomach churn in disgust. 

Liquid thicker than water dripped down her chest and she looked down to notice the gash there was bleeding slightly, leaving pink streaks on her otherwise clean skin. She tore through her medicine cabinet behind her mirror, taking out gauze and tape to put over it as well as the one on her thigh and stomach that had opened up as well. 

Lav pulled on a pair of boy short cut underwear and a soft pink t-shirt to sleep in. Tonight she wouldn’t be calling for anyone to join her in bed. She wanted to be alone despite knowing that it was probably a bad idea. She’d rather have nightmares than lay beside one of those traitors. 

So one could imagine her surprise when she walked into her room to see a pajama clad Sweet Pea laying on her bed, scrolling through Facebook on his phone. “What the _fuck_ are you doing in my bed?” She seethed, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Sweet Pea looked at her with a blank face. “Fangs has to watch Ginger Snap tonight.” He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. So naturally he assumed that he’d take residence beside her even after the show he put on earlier? Not going to happen. 

“You think that after what you did today you deserve to sleep next to me?” She asked, her voice sharp and taking on a slightly higher pitch. “After completely ruining my date because you were _jealous_?” 

The word left her lips without her even comprehending the thought fully. Was that really why Sweet Pea had acted the way he did, because he didn’t want to see her with someone else? She hurt herself with her own words. 

Sweets sat up quickly at her question. “You really think I’d be jealous of _him_?” He spat back, swinging his long legs over the side of the bed to stand up. “You think that’s what it was about? You think I care that much about some Northsider?” 

Her stomach twisted into knots. She didn’t let her hurt show and she sure as hell didn’t let it cool her anger. “ _You don’t care_?” She mimicked, her voice dark. “Is that why you hold me so close at night just to ignore that fact that I even exist during the day? Is that why you bandaged me up like I was a delicate little flower? Is that why you don’t even speak to me _ever_? Is that why you punched Reggie when he was talking shit to me? Is that why you ruined my date, my little chance at actual happiness because _you don’t fucking care_?” By the end of it she was screaming at him so loud she was sure Fangs could hear her in his trailer next door. 

Sweet Pea took two long steps so he was standing right in front of her. His teeth were clenched so hard that she could see a muscle twitch along his jawline. “Those pain pills must be getting to your head, Rhodes, because you’ve got some pretty stupid ideas roaming around up there.” He said, his voice low. “Did you really think for a second that this was any more than a job to me? That I caught some feelings for a Northside princess all because we fucked once? Did it ever occur to you that I was just trying to get laid and you were loose enough to not make me have to take you to my trailer to get it done?” 

“You insufferable prick!” Lav roared, “I _hate_ you!” She regretted the words as soon as they left her lips. A flicker of something in his eyes after she said them. Something that looked a lot like pain. Then there was a fire that was even brighter than her own. 

“Because I’m Southside trash, right?” Sweet Pea hissed, “Because I’m never going to be good enough for some stuck up bitch? If you even cared an ounce about this gang then you would tell us what we need to know so we could attack the Ghoulies. Or are you just making that up too?” 

His words cut her more deeply than the Ghoulies’ switchblades. How could he think for a second that she was lying about who attacked her? How could he think so low of her? Tears swelled in her eyes and swiftly fell down her cheeks. “Get out!” She said, her voice shaking from the sob she was trying to hold back. “Get the fuck out of my trailer and don’t you ever come back!” 

“Fine!” Sweet Pea roared at her, his anger now pitted at himself for saying something harsh enough to make her break down. Her tears sending knives through his heart at the mere sight of them. Even worse, he knew he was the one that caused him and it made him nauseous. But still, his anger was flared and there was nothing to calm him down now. 

Sweets stormed past her out of her bedroom, her trailer, and hopefully her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispering softly* I told you this was a slow burn. Don't kill me


	8. Flashbang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW/CW: Sexual assault mention, Flashbacks
> 
> I didn't expect this to be done until Friday but here we are. S/O To Steve-Harringtonnn on Tumblr for giving me some ideas about how this chapter should go. :)
> 
> Cross posted on [Tumblr](http://theangriestpea.tumblr.com)

When Lavender didn’t show up for school the next day, Fangs knew he had to fix things. The night before when he had been outside stealing a few puffs of a cigarette while Ginger Snap was preoccupied, he heard the screaming match between Lavender and Sweet Pea. Though he couldn’t make out the very beginning, he could easily make out the gist of what the argument was about. Including what Sweets had said before Lav told him to get out.

He laid awake that night knowing she’d wake herself up in a panic from nightmares. If she was screaming or not, he couldn’t hear from his bedroom on the other side of his trailer. Still he couldn’t stop worrying about her and he had a feeling that Sweet Pea was having the same issue. 

Sweets didn’t say much at school, choosing to slam things around in his locker to show how pissed off he was. He stayed late to shoot baskets and try to work off some steam. Fangs went to a florist on the Southside to pick up a bouquet of purple flowers as an apology to Lav. He had a hand in making her so angry yesterday by lying to her at Pop’s. Sweet Pea wasn’t the only one who had ruined her date. 

The reason he went along with Sweet Pea’s interruption was because he also had a bad feeling about James. He wondered why Lavender was showing him any interest as she hadn’t shown much to anyone outside of the Serpents before. He felt guilty about not trusting her judgement, however Sweet Pea has great intuition if nothing else. It left an unsettling feeling in his stomach. 

Before he could give the peace offering to her, he needed to talk to his male best friend. Another thing that didn’t sit well with him was Sweet Pea’s insinuation that Lav was lying about who raped her. There was no doubt in his mind that she was telling the truth and he didn’t even have to be in the room to hear the hurt in her voice. 

Fangs walked into Sweet Pea’s trailer, not bothering to knock on the door since they were like brothers. Sweets was the same way with Fangs’ home. Pea was on his couch, looking over his homework with an open beer on the table. It seemed early for a drink, even for them. 

Sweet Pea looked up, his hair damp from the shower he took at school after practice. He eyed the flowers in Fangs’ hand, knowing that they weren’t meant for him. Fangs didn’t even have to say that they needed to talk, Sweets could tell by the look on his face. He had been avoiding his friend all day for this very reason. 

“You need to apologize. You can even write your name on the card I got her.” Fangs said, getting straight to the point. He felt like he didn’t need to say _why_ Sweets needed to apologize because they both knew very well why. 

Sweet Pea had a bored look on his face, “apologize for what? Being Southside scum?” He spat back at Fangs. The shorter boy looked unperturbed by his resistance. He had been expecting it. 

Fangs stared his friend down to the point that he felt uncomfortable. “Lavender doesn’t think you’re scum because you’re from the Southside. She thinks you’re scum because that’s how you make _her_ feel. If she really had a problem with the Southside then do you think she’d be such good friends with me? Do you think she would have slept with you? Do you think she would live here? She got enough money from her dad’s life insurance and makes enough part time at the coffee shop to have an apartment on the Northside. But she chooses to stay here, with us. She chose to be a Serpent and she’s a Serpent by blood. Stop trying to take this life away from her just because she spent a fifteen years on the north side of the tracks.” 

Sweet Pea’s jaw clenched as it always did when he was faced with life altering truth or something he just didn’t like. Fangs didn’t break eye contact either. This was something he’d been wanting to say for a long time and it felt good to finally say it. “You need to apologize for accusing her of lying. We’re the ones that found her, Sweets. We saw what she looked like. You really think someone other than the Ghoulies are capable of that?” 

Fangs ended Sweet Pea with that question, rhetorical or not. Pea knew he had done wrong by saying what he did. He had been so angry all day at himself for not knowing how to fix it. His eyes fell to the open books in front of him for a moment before he looked back up, “hand me the damn card.” 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Fangs arrived to Lavender’s trailer after stopping by his own, a purple bouquet and box of sweets in hands. He rapped lightly on her front door. Inside he could hear a perturbed groan as the lock turned. The door cracked and a purple haired girl looked back at him through the opening. 

He flashed her a genuine smile, trying to not let it falter when he saw the disgruntled look on her face. “I have something for you, beautiful.” He said, holding the flowers out to her. Lav looked at him skeptically before opening the door fully to let him in. 

Lavender moved to the side to make room. She took the bundle of stems from Fangs’ hand and observed over the flowers. No wilting, beautiful placement, and an overall lovely assortment. A pleased look crossed her face as she noticed the card attached. She opened it to read the simple inscription inside: _I’m sorry_. Underneath were two signatures. One she could easily make out as Fangs’ but the other was nothing more than scribble with two distinct letters, S and P. 

Her eyes shot up to him, anger once against clouding them over. “I forgive you. Only you.” She said hotly, not even wanting to think about allowing Sweet Pea off the hook after what he had said to her. She wasn’t ready. The flowers and card were obviously Fangs’ idea. How he conned Sweets into signing it, she could only imagine. This was sincere on one of their parts but not the other. She was quick to see that. 

“I brought you some of these too.” He said, handing her the box of Swiss Rolls. The anger quickly cleared from her eyes as she took the box and kissed him on the cheek. 

“You’re the best.” She said before going into her kitchen to grab a vase. She poured some water into it before adding the flowers, undoing the tie around the stems to set them free. “They’re beautiful, thanks Fangs.” <> Fangs set the box of snack cakes onto the kitchen table next to the flowers before going into the living room and sitting down on the couch. “Why do you like that guy so much anyway?” 

She halted her movements of fluffing out the flowers. A small sigh escaped her lips as she walked over to the couch and curled up next to him. “He doesn’t look at me like I’m broken or a piece of meat. Most guys just obviously want to get into my pants so I ignore them. He seems…genuine. And I don’t feel like he’s just staring at my bruises and cuts when he looks at me.” 

“Seems kind of convenient, don’t you think?” Fangs asked honestly. He wasn’t going to bring up the bad feeling him and Sweets got from James. It didn’t seem like the best approach. 

“What? That a guy likes me when I’m a broken mess?” Lav asked, not really understanding his point. 

Fangs shrugged, “I just mean, some guys take advantage of girls when they’re down. It’s not hard to tell that you’re depressed, which you are rightly so. I feel like he’s just attaching himself to you while you’re vulnerable. If you were in a good headspace then you’d treat him like any other guy.” 

Lav bit her lip as she thought over what he said. Maybe he had a point. She did seem to enjoy the positive attention James was giving her. It wasn’t the same as Fangs taking care of her. Their love was platonic. She knew he cared about her no matter what happened. There was comfort in that, sure, but there was also comfort in someone else finding her attractive still. 

“He just…doesn’t make me feel so ugly.” She tried to explain, not really having a good counter argument for what he was telling her. “Everyone has been giving me attention because of what happened. Asking me how I feel constantly. Asking me questions I don’t want to answer about it. James doesn’t do that. He helps me forget that I’m even in this situation.” 

Fangs nodded, understanding where she was coming from now. “Alright, how about this? There’s a bonfire tonight at the quarry, why don’t we go and hang out with everyone else? I was just going to stay here with you but it might be good to get out. It might help you forget instead of being cooped up here in your room all night.” 

Normally Lav wouldn’t have gone out on a school night. She’d stay home and study or get some rest. But she hadn’t been sleeping well lately anyway and no one brought her assignments to her today. There was nothing to lose. “Alright, let me get dressed, okay? I don’t want to go in sweatpants and this ratty shirt.” 

“But babe, your pajamas are so sexy.” Fangs said, pretending to whine as he tugged on her holey shirt. Lav just laughed and rolled her eyes at him. She got up from the couch and went into her room to get ready. 

Lavender pulled on a black sweater with a white crescent moon on it along with a pink skirt that fell to her mid-thigh. It was long enough to cover the cuts. She slid on fishnets to take away from the sight of the bruises, not that they’d be very visible in the light of the setting sun. Lastly the donned her lavender high tops. 

After brushing her hair out she walked back into the living room where Fangs was eating a Swiss Roll. She pouted at him, “Fangs! Those were mine!” 

“It’s just one! Here, have the other.” He handed her the other snack cake and she took it from him, eating it in just two bites. Fangs laughed at how she scarfed it down, “I forgot how you inhale these. You don’t even chew, you practically swallow them whole.” 

Lavender eyed him, “I feel like there’s a head joke in there somewhere.” 

“Oh there is, I was being polite and not saying it.” Fangs said with a smirk as he stood up from the couch, “let’s go turn some heads.” He held his arm out to her and she took it, walking out with him over to her trailer to get into his truck and drive to the quarry. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

The sun was half-way set by the time they arrived. The bonfire was blazing tall, fueled by broken wooden pallets and fallen tree branches. Around it sat big fallen logs that were makeshift seats. Young Serpents littered the area, a few even braving the dirty water to swim even though the temperature was starting to drop. Typically Lavender would be one of them, having always loved the water. But with the way her body looked, there was no way she was taking her clothes off in front of everyone. Plus she couldn’t get her cast wet. 

The tallest Serpent unfortunately caught her eye. He was talking to a girl she hadn’t seen before, dyed black hair with bangs. Pale skin and tiny frame. She was pretty in a kind of unconventional way. Lavender tried not to stare, a burning feeling in her heart at the way Sweet Pea was smirking down at the stranger. 

She took a seat and tried not to stare. Fangs was preoccupied with another groupie, he arm around her shoulders and whispering into her ear so that she’d giggle. Toni and Cheryl were swimming, off having fun in their own little world. 

Lavender wondered why she came. She felt so utterly alone here. She’d catch glances from other members of the gang, looking at the cast or the cuts on her face. Unconsciously she pulled at the ends of her long sleeves, bringing her covered hands up to hide the lower half of her face. 

Her hazel eyes drifted back over to Sweet Pea. He was leaned over, whispering something into the girl’s ear, making her laugh obnoxiously. Lavender’s eyes hardened suspiciously. It wasn’t like she didn’t know that Sweet Pea was a womanizer. Everyone knew that. It shouldn’t bother her to see him with someone else. They weren’t even friends, let alone lovers. This was so damn frustrating. 

“Kitty Rollins.” Fangs said, moving to sit beside Lavender after seeing the way she was looking at the couple of teenagers. “Serpent hopeful.” 

“I see Sweet Pea has his hooks in her already.” Lavender said, her words coming out in a disgusted tone. “Typical. A new girl comes and he slides right in. Surprised he isn’t offering her tequila and making her play that stupid pool game.” 

Fangs heard his own date calling out to him. “I love the look of jealousy on you, Lavender. It’s almost as cute on you as it is on Sweet Pea.” He teased. “I’ve got to get back to my own girl, but try to have some fun. There’s a bottle of whiskey over there everyone is passing around. It’ll loosen you up.” 

She got up and poured herself a double shot of whiskey, putting in a splash of coke to help choke it down. Once she sat back down she tried to keep her eyes on the brown liquid in the red solo cup. 

A glint of light caused her to look up. She saw Sweet Pea with his switchblade out, twirling it in his fingers. He flipped it open and shut with flicks of his wrist expertly. 

Her eyes locked onto the blade and they glazed over. Suddenly it was dark and she saw the same glint, laughter, and painted faces. She couldn’t move her body. _What end should we use, boys? How should we ruin this Serpent Slut?_

Sweet Pea looked over at Lav then by happenstance. Her eyes were wide, terror stricken as she stared at him. He tried to connect his gaze with hers but she was too far gone. Lost in her own head as tears leaked from her eyes. She was looking at his knife, unable to look away. 

He quickly put the blade away and excused himself from Kitty’s side. He walked up to Lavender but she didn’t move or even react to him standing over her. “Rhodes.” He said, trying to break her out of the daze she was in. 

_Use the handle, Richter._ Another voice echoed in her mind. _Right, the handle, then if she screams I’ll just open it inside her._

A firm grip wrapped around her wrist and pulled up to her feet. Lavender crashed against Sweet Pea, unable to hold herself up. He knew what was happening. He’d seen this look before in his older brother before he died. The same look would cross his face when he thought of the war. His head reeling, unable to ground himself in the present on his own. 

Sweet Pea guided Lavender to an outcropping of trees on the other side of the quarry. He forced her back against one so she could hold herself up on something that wasn’t him. “Lavender.” He said, shaking her shoulders lightly. “Snap out of it, it’s not real. Look at me. _Look at me!_ ” 

Her thighs were pressed tightly together as her knees shook under her weight. Foggy memories were reeling in her head as she tried to hone in on Sweet Pea’s voice. Finally her eyes focused and she found herself looking up into his eyes. For a moment she was quiet before a sob shook her beaten frame. 

“That’s what they used, wasn’t it?” He asked in a voice softer than what he would normally use with anyone. “A switchblade.” Lavender could only nod her head weakly. It was the handle with the blade enclosed inside. The constant threat of them flicking it open looming over her during every thrust. She felt her stomach lurch and she quickly turned away from him to puke up the bit of whiskey and the chocolate cake. Her hands were tightly gripping onto his arms and a moment later she noticed that he was puking too, cursing at himself for his weakness. 

When they were both done, they stood breathing raggedly. Sweet Pea looked down at her and edged closer. Lavender’s hands slid up his arms to rest on the tops of his shoulders. Her head tilting up so that their lips were almost touching. 

“Sweetie Pea?” An unfamiliar voice called out, “Where are you? I thought we were going to have some fun?” 

They quickly pulled apart as if nothing happened. Sweet Pea looked out of the woods to see Kitty looking for him, calling for him again. His heart was racing in his chest at what has just almost happened. Lavender still seemed in a daze, though her eyes were already narrowing at the sight of the dark haired girl. 

“Better go, _Sweetie_.” Lavender said, her voice tired and unamused. “Or else you won’t get laid tonight.” She let go of him and walked out towards Kitty, ignoring the pain in her chest at having been interrupted. Lav brushed past the other girl, not even acknowledging her as she went straight back to her drink. 

Sweet Pea stood, not knowing what to do. Not recognizing the weird mix of feelings inside of him. Truth be told, he didn’t even care about having sex tonight. Not anymore. He found himself just wanting to be in her bed, holding her close so she wouldn’t wake herself up screaming.


	9. Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actual name of this chapter is "Supply Closets are a Girl's Best Friend" but that seemed way too long to actually put. 
> 
> I know I said Tuesday but lol here it is. Longest chapter I've written yet. I was quite... _inspired_.
> 
> As always, cross posted on [Tumblr](http://theangriestpea.tumblr.com) where you can find mood boards, playlists, updates and more!

Lavender found herself wishing that she had been spooning with Sweet Pea and not with Fangs. His light snores filled her left ear while she laid awake, thinking about what had happened at the quarry. Fangs didn’t know what had went down. He had been too busy sneaking off to his truck with his little crush in tow. Not that Lav cared that he left her side to score. He wasn’t her babysitter. She didn’t need constant surveillance.

So when he walked up to her with lipstick smeared on his lips and his shirt unbuttoned, she wasn’t angry. Tipsy, sure, but not angry. She was frustrated with herself for almost letting Sweet Pea kiss her. She was supposed to be mad at him, hell she _was_ still mad at him. But him coming to her aid when she was having her meltdown, the way he whisked her off to break down in private. The sympathy he showed by throwing up along with her… 

She didn’t know what she was feeling. She had crushes before and this didn’t feel like one really. She liked James. She wanted to go on dates with him. Sweet Pea didn’t even do dates. He just played stupid games with stupid girls to get into their stupid pants. 

Worst of all, she couldn’t just sleep it off. All she could think about was that he’d probably be in someone else’s bed tonight instead of hers. The notion was driving her mad. 

She let out a soft groan, causing Fangs to stir. He lifted his head and blinked at her sleepily. “Nightmare?” 

Lavender turned onto her back when his grip loosened. “Tell me about that new girl, Kitty whatever.” She didn’t bother to answer his question. If she did then he’d know that she hadn’t been to sleep yet. 

Fangs rubbed the sleep from one of his eyes. “She’s kind of annoying honestly. Her laugh is really fake, like she doesn’t really find what we’re saying funny. There doesn’t seem to be anything genuine about her really.” 

Lav bit her lip in thought. “Would you fuck her?” 

He was too tired to understand what she was talking about or to even figure out why she was asking. “Maybe if I was drunk enough. Why?” 

“No reason. I just don’t like her. I get a bad feeling.” Lavender said, lying to both herself and her friend. It wasn’t that she got a bad feeling because of who Kitty was, but rather because of who she was flirting with. 

“Like how we get a bad feeling about James?” Fangs prodded, earning him a bothered look from Lav. 

She sighed before looking away from him. “Yea, I guess. I have another date with him Friday night.” 

“Where we going this time?” Fangs asked, this being the first time he heard about it. 

“The Wyrm.” 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Thursday passed without incident and school on Friday was pretty uneventful as well. Lavender and Sweet Pea had been avoiding each other like the plague. Fangs was keeping the peace but it was difficult when he didn’t know what the hell was going on. 

In truth both flower teens had been contemplating their feelings long and hard. Both concluded that it was nothing but remnants of what they shared that Fourth of July. 

Toni and Cheryl were both at Lav’s trailer that night, all three getting ready for their night at the Whyte Wyrm. Though the two girls had already met James and agreed that something _was_ unsettling about him, they cheered their friend on in getting into a relationship that seemed to make her somewhat happy. 

She put on a black dress with printed pink flowers blossoming across the fabric. It fell to a few inches above her knees. The fabric showed plenty of cleavage, her serpent tattoo peeking out over the top lining. “Fishnets?” She asked, pulling out a pair and holding them up to her waist, “or too grunge?” 

“Too grunge.” Toni stated, “He’s a jock, not a gangbanger.” 

Lavender nodded and put the fishnets away. She put on a pair of pink socks before her black ankle boots. 

Cheryl gave her a curious look at she fluffed her gorgeous red hair, “no purple chucks?” 

“No, tonight is special.” Lavender said with a smile, looking into the mirror to fix her nude lipstick. “Plus they don’t match my outfit.” 

Toni chuckled, “when has that ever stopped you, Lavie?” 

Lavender shot her a playful look. “Shut up. Ready? I want to get there before him. You know, ward off the snakes ready to strike at any outsider.” 

Both girls shook their heads at their friend before leaving with her to the bar. 

Once there Lav turned to them, “I’m waiting out here for him, okay? You two can go ahead and go inside.” 

“I’ll get you a drink.” Cheryl said with a smirk before disappearing inside the Wyrm with her girlfriend. 

Lav checked her phone, letting James know that she was out front for him. Jokingly telling him that if he went in without her then he’d probably get killed. She knew it wouldn’t be that serious, but she liked to pretend that she was more of a badass than she actually was. Especially with her visible injuries. They made her feel weak so she knew she had to act strong with her words. It was the only way to get people to stop looking at her like she was so pathetic. 

The sound of a familiar motorcycle pulled into the parking lot. Sweet Pea put out his kickstand with the toe of his boot and eased the bike onto its side. Sitting behind him on the seat was a scantily clad Serpent hopeful. She looked over at Lav, catching her eyes and smirking as she murmured something to Sweet Pea. 

They got off the parked bike and Sweet Pea put his arm across Kitty’s shoulders, his own smirk plastered on his face as he looked at Lav. She was frowning at the both of them, arms crossed over her chest in clear disapproval. 

“What’s wrong, Rhodes? Your jock stand you up?” Sweet Pea asked in a voice covered in fake concern. His mocking her hurt more than she cared to let on. Her eyes hard as she stared at him. 

“I’m right here, actually.” James said, stepping around them and to Lavender’s side. He put his arm around her and pulled her close to them, an action that made her wildly uncomfortable. Sweet Pea saw it flash across her face but chose not to say anything. She made her bed, now she had to lay in it. 

Lav turned her attention to Kitty, “You do know that fucking Sweet Pea is not part of the initiation right?” She said coolly. Her voice much smoother than she had expected it to be. 

Kitty read the other girl like a book. “Seemed to work well for you.” She replied in an equally even tone. Sweet Pea’s eyes widened before narrowing in Kitty’s direction. He took his arm off of her shoulders. He shoved past Lavender, James quickly pulling her out of his way. He didn’t appreciate being talked about like that. He didn’t understand why Lavender was acting this way. She never cared about girls he brought around before, why did this one matter? 

Kitty followed after him with a satisfied smile on her face. Lavender’s face stayed in a state of shock at what had just transpired. 

“So that just happened.” James said, taking his arm from around Lavender. “Why don’t you show me around? Forget her.” He said, trying to coax her back to reality. 

When the surprise wore off, Lav was pissed. She kept clenching her fists, wanting to put Kitty in her place for talking to her like that. Not that she didn’t somewhat deserve it. She made the first move. Sweet Pea didn’t look to happy about it either. Lavender nodded her head to James. “I need a drink.” 

She led James inside, showing him the interior of the Wyrm. “There’s the bar, the pool tables, upstairs is the office but we don’t go up there.” She pointed out all the important things to him. 

Sweet Pea slammed down an empty beer mug. Him and Tony exchanging some kind of heated words before she gave him a half bottle of tequila. He gave Lavender a heated look, obviously annoyed but somehow looking cocky at the same time. 

She froze for a moment under his gaze, wondering why the hell he was so upset. Kitty was at his heels with two shot glasses, looking very pleased with herself. 

Cheryl handed Lav an Old Fashioned. “Got you something.” She said with a teasing smile. Lav rolled her eyes before taking a sip. 

“Cheryl, James, you two already know each other.” She said. “And you know Toni, she’s bartending tonight.” 

James nodded, smiling brightly at the two girls. He ordered himself a Jack and coke. Toni obliged and made his drink before slipping it to him. Her eyes lingered on Lav who was sucking down her drink at record speed through the tiny straw. 

Lav slid her empty glass across the bar to Toni. “Did we just miss something?” Toni asked curiously. 

“No, nothing. I just want to feel good.” Lav said, only half lying. James’ closeness was putting her on edge. She didn’t understand why. With Sweet Pea or Fangs or any other Serpent, if they were this close to her then it wouldn’t faze her. She chalked it up to nerves of wanting to make a good impression. 

Toni shrugged and made her another drink. “You know these are like straight rum, right?” She knew Lav knew. It was more of a reminder than anything. 

Lav scoffed at her question. “Less proof than tequila.” She said, chancing a glance to Sweet Pea over at the pool table. He was leaning close to Kitty, explaining the rules of a game that Lavender knew all too well. There was a distinct twinge of heartache that she did her best to ignore. 

“How are you at pool?” Lavender asked James, perking up as an idea crossed her mind. 

He smiled down at her. “Fairly good, actually.” 

She nodded, grabbing his hand to led him over to the pool table where Kitty and Sweet Pea were. “Why don’t we make this interesting, Sweet Pea?” She asked, her voice as sweet as his name. “Make it a couple’s match.” 

Sweet Pea looked up at her from his bent position over Kitty’s shoulder. He _knew_ what kind of player Lav was. He _knew_ she was terrible. So what did she get out of challenging them besides a few free shots of tequila? 

He straightened his posture. “Have you explained the rules to him?” Sweet Pea asked, wondering if James knew exactly what he was getting into. There was a hundred percent chance that Lavender forgot to mention that she is the worst pool player on the Southside. 

Lavender turned to James with an innocent smile, “If one team gets a ball in, the other takes a shot. If you scratch then your team takes a shot, and if you get the eight ball in…” She glanced at Sweet Pea. 

“Whoever shoots the ball drinks the rest of the bottle.” Sweet Pea finished. “If they finish it without puking or without passing out, then their team wins.” 

James seemed to think it over. If Lavender was challenging them then she must have had some skill, right? “Alright, game on.” A smile spread across Lavender’s face as she racked the balls. Sweet Pea was giving her pointed looks as he placed the cue ball. Clearly, she hadn’t told her date just how awful she really was. Otherwise he never would have agreed to this. No sane person would. 

“Your funeral.” Sweet Pea said cryptically. “Serpents go first.” 

Lavender opened her mouth, about to protest that she was also a Serpent, “I’ve been in way longer than you, Rhodes. I go first.” 

She let out an annoyed sigh. “Plus, don’t want to show off all your skill right off the bat.” He added with a playful smirk. Her eyes narrowed at him while Kitty and James looked confused. 

It didn’t take long for both of them to realize what Sweet Pea was alluding to. Lavender was dreadful at pool. She had only gotten in one ball and had scratched four times. While James wasn’t bad by any standard, he wasn’t as good as Sweet Pea. Luckily he wasn’t a lightweight. Unlike his date who seemed beyond tipsy already. Probably because she was taking sips of her drink between shots. Sweet Pea was purposefully not playing his best game, just to drag it on. 

It was Lavender’s turn and she squeezed herself between Sweet Pea and the pool table. He took a long step back, eyes wandering to her ass as she bent over to try and hit in the orange five ball. It was a familiar sight, his mind flashing back to the tight mini skirt she had worn the first night they met. The way it rode up even higher than the dress she was wearing. 

His staring didn’t go unnoticed by Kitty who purposefully knocked into Lav as she made her shot, forcing her to hit the cue ball at the wrong angle. It knocked into the eight ball, sending it into the pocket. 

Her blue-green eyes stared at the pocket that the ball went into. Truth be told, she wasn’t even mad. She couldn’t bring herself to be. She knew Kitty had messed with her shot on purpose. She didn’t know why, she hadn’t seen the look Sweet Pea had on his face from behind her. Still, it was her time to shine. 

Lavender sauntered over to the bottle after putting the pool stick down. Really there was only about three shots left in it. Easy peasy. She giggled at the thought, _pea-sy_. 

She brought the bottle to her lips and chugged it like a pro. The clear liquid burning as it splashed down her throat. After a few moments she slammed down the empty bottle with a proud look on her face. She looked at Sweet Pea through half-lidded, drunken eyes. “I win.” She kept her balance and didn’t heave the alcohol back up (thank God, Sweet Pea thought because that would have been very embarrassing for him). 

Kitty looked very displeased with the loss. “Let’s play again. Full bottle this time.” She said, knowing there was no way this little lightweight could handle another round of terrible plays. She’d have her throwing up if it was the last thing she ever did. She was _determined_ to make a fool of Lavender. 

“Sure.” Lavender said, shrugging her shoulders. “I’ll go get it.” She walked away from them, hips swaying to the music playing overhead. The dark-hair girl fuming at the way both boys were staring at her. She elbowed Sweet Pea hard in the ribs. 

He hardly noticed Kitty’s jab. “I better go make sure she doesn’t drop it.” He said, pretending to be annoyed. This scenario seemed all too familiar and it was making excitement rise in his stomach (and maybe his pants). 

Lavender slurred her words to Toni, telling her they needed another bottle of tequila and to put it on her tab. Toni was about to protest before she saw Sweet Pea making his way over. She bit the inside of the cheek, holding back her words though the amusement showed in her eyes. 

Once inside the storeroom, Lavender pulled the string to turn on the light. She looked through the bottles, grabbing a shelf to keep herself steady. The liquor was quickly catching up to her, making her knees wobble. Her head snapped around when she heard the door behind her shut. For a moment terror ran through her veins at the prospect of being alone with James, who she had wrongly assumed had followed her. 

“Rhodes, you’re not even looking on the right shelf.” Sweet Pea said, a suppressed laugh evident in his tone. 

“ _Sweet Pea_ ,” Lavender cooed out, turning around to face him. “You came.” She had the same look on her face she did that night many months ago, only this time she was clearly way more intoxicated. “Wanna come again?” She asked jokingly and Sweet Pea just stared at her for a moment in complete bewilderment. 

Lavender had never, in the entire time he had known her, made any kind of pass at him. Not since the time she kissed him when she was tipsy but she had admitted to Fangs that she was just trying to get over a bad breakup. It wasn’t genuine, in his opinion, because she didn’t even know him. 

Now she knew him. She _knew_ who she was talking to and she still made an extremely suggestive comment that left him speechless. There was a hopeful but devious look in her eyes, like she had completely forgotten that she had come here with someone else. Hell, he had come here with someone else. What was he even doing here? 

Her lips formed into a cute pout at his silence. She leaned back against the shelf heavily to keep from falling over. Sweet Pea reached out and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her to him so he could keep her steady himself. She wobbled in his grasp, making him tighten it. “Rhodes, I’m not fucking you when you’re this drunk.” He said finally, regretting it when he heard the frustrated groan come out of her mouth. 

She grabbed the lapels of his leather jacket and tugged on them, making him lean down to be closer to her, her lips hungrily meeting his in a sloppy kiss. 

Sweet Pea tried to stop himself from reacting, he really did. She had just had probably a fourth of a bottle of tequila on her own on two of two mixed drinks and it was influencing her heavily. He wasn’t about to take advantage of her but her throwing herself at him was making that very difficult. 

He reluctantly kissed her back, one arm wrapped firmly around her waist while her other hand was placed between her shoulder blades to keep her upright. She tasted exactly like the bottle she had just drank from. He felt himself getting drunk just from the neediness of her lips. 

Her hands stayed holding onto his jacket for dear life. Her mouth opened, her tongue prodding at his lips playfully so he’d open his mouth. She moaned when he did, their tongues meeting together in the middle. 

In July, Sweet Pea had had all of the control. He dominated her but right now she was clearly the one calling the shots. Her non-casted hand came up and ran through his raven hair, tugging at it slightly in a way that made him groan into their kiss. 

Lavender took her hand out of his locks and put it on his shoulder, using it as leverage to jump up and wrap her legs around his waist. Sweet Pea had no choice but to catch her or else she would have fallen helplessly. His hands placed firmly under her thighs, their lips not even parting during the whole ordeal. 

Her hands were on his neck, fingers tracing the lines of his tattoo in a way that drove him crazy, other hand in his hair again. Sweet Pea regained some sense and pulled away from her the best in could while holding her. “Stop, Lavender,” He said as she looked at him through obviously hazy eyes. “We can’t do this.” 

“Why _not_?” She hiccuped, starting to get angry with him for not wanting to be with her. Maybe she was wrong about thinking that perhaps their feelings were mutual. Maybe she was putting her trust into the wrong person. 

“Because I’ve never seen you this drunk before.” He said sternly, “you’re supposed to be mad at me! I haven’t even apologized for what I said!” He was starting to sound exasperated. 

She was staring at his lips and not his eyes, her pupils blown wide with lust. “You signed your name on the card…” She said dumbly. 

Sweet Pea let out an annoyed sigh, “I didn’t mean it though.” 

“So…you’re not sorry?” Lav asked, looking hurt now but still not untangling herself from him. Mostly because she doubted that she could stand without his help. 

“No! I am sorry! I just don’t understand why we’re kissing!” His voice started to grow louder at her not understanding what he was saying. Even though he wasn’t communicating very well considering how intoxicated she was. 

Lavender opened her mouth to reply but the door swung open to see an equally drunk Fangs. “Seven minutes in heaven is over, love birds. Your dates are pissed.” He said, laughing and not at all surprised to see the position they were in. The sexual tension could be cut with a dull butter knife, it wasn’t hard to see that they’d somehow end up in each other’s arms. 

She let out an irritated groan as she rested her head on Sweet Pea’s firm shoulder. “I think I’m going to be sick.” 

“Not on me!” Sweet Pea shouted, quickly carrying her to the girl’s bathroom so she could puke out all the tequila and rum with him a safe distance away. He didn’t care about all the strange looks they were got in the process. And he _really_ didn't care to answer any of Kitty's intrusive questions.


	10. Lucky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Sexual assault reference
> 
> I couldn't think of a good way to end this one so it ends kind of abruptly and weirdly. My bad. My next day off isn't until Friday of NEXT week. So no telling when I'll get the next one out.
> 
> Cross posted on [Tumblr](http://theangriestpea.tumblr.com)

Lavender’s eyes fluttered open as bright beams of sunlight filtered in through her blinds. Her head was throbbing painfully, stomach completely empty, and mouth dry as if it had been stuffed full of cotton all night. Bits and pieces of her memory eased back into her mind. Her confrontation with Kitty, drinking with James, playing pool, and…not much after that.

She had definitely thrown up at least once though, that she was sure of by the taste in her mouth. If she had had any nightmares last night, then she couldn’t remember them. That was good, at least. 

A scent she recognized wafted into her nose, a scent she chose to not think of as her favorite even though it secretly was. “Sweet Pea?” Lavender asked, her voice coming out cracked from how dry her throat was. She was confused as to why he was there. Shouldn’t he be with Kitty? 

Sweet Pea had already been awake. He had been lost in thought, staring at the wall as he held her close. He knew she wouldn’t remember last night. He knew and it already hurt his heart. 

“Why are you here?” She dared to ask, confusion laced in her tone. She wanted to turn onto her side to look at him but that would have required to her lay on her still sore ribs. 

“Someone had to make sure you didn’t choke on your own vomit.” Sweet Pea replied, pulling away from her now that she was awake. She suddenly felt cold without him. She was about to ask why Fangs didn’t do it but he interrupted her, “Why did you drink so much last night? Trying to impress your boyfriend?” 

Lavender looked up at the ceiling, the light was hurting her eyes. “It makes me feel good.” She said, her voice barely above a whisper, “it helps me forget.” 

Sweet Pea knew unhealthy coping mechanisms when he saw them, he had a few himself. However he knew going down this road could potentially be dangerous. Especially if she wanted to jump anyone that gave her attention when she was drunk. Any lesser man would have taken advantage of her and, though he hated to admit it, some of the other Serpents were lesser men. What if James had been the one to go after her? Would she have given herself to him at that moment too? Was it just luck that it was him? 

“Oh God, James!” Lavender forced herself to sit up, creating more distance between them. She rubbed her eyes and groaned at the pain brought by sitting up quickly. “I left him there, didn’t I? What happened?” 

He stared at the back of her head blankly. It was just as he predicted. “What’s the last thing you remember?” 

“That bitch making me hit in the eight ball.” Lavender grumbled, her distaste for Kitty evident by the sound of her voice. 

“You went into the back room to get another bottle of tequila to play another round. After you didn’t come back for a few minutes I checked on you and found you making out with Fangs. Then he had to carry you to the bathroom before you threw up all over him.” Sweet Pea said carefully, wondering if she’d believe him. 

Lavender could remember kissing someone, and knowing it was someone she truly cared about made her feel somewhat better. Fangs was probably drunk too anyway so it didn’t matter much. There was a small smile on her face that Sweet Pea could simply not ignore. 

Her smile quickly fell, “did he see? What happened with James?” 

“He left looking pretty pissed.” Sweet Pea said calmly. “He didn’t have to see to know what happened.” 

“Fuck.” She breathed out, getting out of bed to see that she was wearing a rather suggestive looking nightgown that she didn’t even know she owned. “Who dressed me?” 

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes, “Toni and Cheryl. But you picked out the outfit.” 

“I did?” She looked at herself in the mirror. Suddenly she felt very exposed as she noticed him staring at her in the mirror. “Stop looking at me!” She snapped at him as a blush crept across her cheeks. 

He let out an annoyed sigh as he looked away from her. 

“I better go apologize…” Lavender mumbled to herself, rummaging through her dresser for something more appropriate to wear. “I feel terrible.” 

“As you should.” Sweet Pea said, but he didn’t think she should feel terrible for making James angry but rather for the way she threw herself at him and not remembering. How she seemed relieved to have been kissing Fangs and not anyone else. He needed to go home. Clear his own head. 

Lavender felt her heart ache at his words. She didn’t mean to make anyone feel bad last night. She just drank way past her limit to make herself feel okay. Sweet Pea got out of the bed, he took a moment to stretch and Lavender found herself admiring the sliver of toned stomach that peeked out from under his shirt as he lifted his arms over his head. 

She still didn’t understand why he was here, not really. 

Sweet Pea didn’t say anything as he went into the other room to grab his keys and go home. He had slept in his clothes last night and needed a shower to get the smell of alcohol and cigarettes off of him. 

Lavender bit her lip at his silence before quickly throwing on jeans and a tight fitted tee. She grabbed her keys to drive to James’ trailer located in another trailer park on the other end of the Southside. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Lavender arrived at James’ trailer, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. Would he even want to see her? Should she have called first? Why was she so impulsive sometimes? 

She got out of her beat up Honda and walked up to his door, knocking on it. The silence seemed the drag on before she heard the door unlock and open. James didn’t look surprised to see her. He bit back his anger as he opened the door for her to come in. 

Lavender anxiously stepped inside, not liking the look on his face. It wasn’t calm and collected like usual. There was this silent rage behind it that even she could detect. 

He pushed the door shut, the wood slamming against the frame so hard that she jumped. Suddenly she knew this had been a mistake. A terrible mistake. 

His hand shot out to grab her by the upper arm and pull her to him, his grip so tight that she knew it would bruise. Then a memory struck through her. The same grip on her that night. Holding her down and laughing, blue eyes flashing in the light of the nearby streetlight. 

And then she knew where she recognized him from. 

Lavender desperately tried to pull away from him, but he was too strong. James could tell by the look on her face that she knew. It wasn’t hard to figure out. His free hand went to the bottom hem of his gym shorts and he pulled them up so she could see the ghoulish skull tattoo that was the mark of a Ghoulie on his upper thigh. “What, Shanna? You really think I was interested in _you_? When you look like _that_?” 

He laughed and god she knew that fucking laugh. She wanted to scream but she was frozen from fear. Her eyes wider than they’d ever been before as they looked at the smirk on his face. “You made me into an idiot last night, and I’m going to tell you now that you’re not going to do that again. And you’re not going to tell anyone about me either or else my boys and I will show you what we have in store for round number two.” 

She couldn’t breathe. She could no longer feel the effects of her hangover as dread washed over her. _Round Two_. Would she even survive a second round of what they put her through? Did they not thoroughly break her the first time? 

“W-Why?” She managed to choke out. “Why me?” 

James stared her down, his face leaning down as if he was going to kiss her. She tried to pull away from him. “Jonathan Rhodes screwed Penny and Malachai over once pretty bad. Consider this payback.” 

Her father had some kind of dealings with Ghoulies? Why? What was he doing with them? His answer just created more questions for her. Her attack hadn’t been just a run of bad luck. It had been premeditated. God, he had been so nice to her. Why was she such an idiot? 

Sweet Pea was right the multiple times he called her dumb. He’d probably say it again when he found out. Rub it in her face, _I told you so_ type deal. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d understand. Maybe he’d hold her for once during the day like he did during the night. 

“What kind of girl sneaks off to make out with another guy while she’s on a date?” James asked her, making her swallow hard. “Guess what they say about you female snakes is true. You’re all loose. I’m surprised we had any trouble getting that knife handle into you.” 

Again she wanted to scream, she pulled away once more but he just readjusted his grip on her bicep. “Now, you’re going to act like this conversation never happened. You’re going to pretend that you’re still into me. You’re going to continue to go on dates with me. And you’re going to be _mine_.” 

Her eyes were on him but they weren’t focused. She was trying desperately to not think too deeply into what he meant by that. Another part of her was trying to figure out an escape. She could knee him but that would probably be a very bad idea. Seeing as this was his reaction to her just kissing another guy, what would he do if he found out how Fangs and Sweet Pea held her at night? What if he figured out they were watching over her like two adorable hawks? 

Hawks that had been totally right about him. Hawks she should have listen to but didn’t and now she was in this horrible situation. “Are you listening to me, Shanna?” James asked, noting the look on her face. She seemed to be a million miles away. 

She could only nod her head, afraid of what her voice would sound like. Afraid that she might break down fully. She didn’t want that. He didn’t deserve to see her like that. There were only four people on that short list and none of them where here right now. 

James let go of her, stepping back though he still kept the same superior air about him. “You’re going to make up for your father’s mistake. How unlucky for you that he died before getting a chance to pay his dues.” 

He laughed again and Lavender visibly flinched at the sound. The one person that made her feel normal. The one that didn’t constantly ask her how she was feeling or doing or treating her like she’d break. The one that made her smile at school when everyone else just made her want to cry. He just had to be a monster. It just couldn’t have been real. It was never real. 

“Now, I’m actually busy today. So run back to your little reptiles and remember, we made up. I accepted your apology. We’ll be going out again soon.” James said, opening the door back up for her. Lavender nodded numbly, again she was unable to actually say anything. He practically shoved her out before slamming the door once more behind her. 

Lavender felt numb. Not the good kind of numb that alcohol sometimes made her feel, but the terrible sinking numb that happened whenever too much was running through her head. She walked into her car and got in, quickly driving off to create as much distance between her and James as possible. 

First she went to Fox Forest, parking her car and resting her head on the steering wheel. The first few minutes she was silent. Then, tears slowly started to crawl down her face. Lastly sobs shook her so hard that her ribs shot painful reminders through her body as to what the Ghoulies had already done to her. Her grip on the steering wheel was so tight that it was hurting her fingers. She wanted to crawl into the forest and die. Just wither away and forget all that was happening to her. 

Two hours she sat there in hysterics before finally running out of tears. She didn’t want to be alone anymore. She need to tell _someone_ what just happened. She was in too deep. She’d drown without a life jacket. 

Lavender wiped her face and eyes before pulling out of her parking space and driving back to Sunnyside. She let herself go on autopilot, driving into her trailer’s driveway and parking there. After turning the car off, she got out and just started walking. There was no set destination, she just let her feet take her. Eventually she found herself in front of Sweet Pea’s trailer and she didn’t know why. Maybe this once he’d be nice to her. Maybe he’d realize how much trouble she was in. 

She took a deep breath before going up his few stairs to knock on his door. After a few moments of hearing someone shuffling around inside, the door opened to reveal a topless Sweet Pea. 

Lavender was too distraught to take in the view. She didn’t even notice he was half naked as she looked up at his face. It was evident that she’d been crying. In fact, it looked like she was about to do it again at any moment. “Rhodes?” He asked, confused by the sight of her. Didn’t she go to see James? 

He realized it must have went very badly for her to come to him. He opened his mouth to speak but another voice overpowered his, “Sweetie Pea? Who’s at the door?” 

A pained look crossed Lavender’s face at the sound of Kitty’s voice. She finally noticed his state of undress and quickly took off as fast as she could. She wanted to see him, confide in him, open up to him finally, and here he was with someone else. 

She didn’t understand. Why did this feel like rejection when they weren’t even together? Why was her heart shattering? Worst of all, why was she surprised? 

Once at her trailer she quickly got in and found a very concerned Fangs on her couch. “Sweets said you-“ He was cut off by her rushing over to him and clinging to him, yet another cry escaping from her broken form. 

“Hey, hey, shhh.” Fangs said, rubbing her back. Sweet Pea had told him that she went to see James. He had the same thought that SP did, that it must have gone badly. “Was he that mad?” 

Lavender went silent. That’s right. She couldn’t tell. She had worked up the courage to tell Sweet Pea but he had crushed it. Now she hadn’t the strength to tell even her best friend. “N-no,” She stuttered out. “That’s not it.” 

“What is it then?” 

“I can’t,” was all she could get out before tightening her grip on him. “I just can’t.” 

Confused didn’t even begin to cover what Fangs was feeling. “Is this about you making out with Sweet Pea last night?” 

Her head shot up to look at him, “What? He told me I made out with you?” 

Fangs tried not to laugh. Sweet Pea had told him that he’d lied to Lavender about what happened. He had been too embarrassed to admit in front of her that he had kissed her back while being pretty much sober. He had only had a few shots compared to the fourth of a bottle and two drinks she’d had. Plus he had a much higher tolerance. 

“Right, he lied. You practically jumped him in that store room. You two were getting very friendly by the time I found you.” Fangs said, wondering why she looked so mortified. Last night she had been so happy. Drunk but happy. 

“So he carried me to the bathroom?” She mumbled her question, already knowing the answer. 

Fangs nodded, “yes. And he demanded that he be the one to stay with you last night.” 

Lavender planted her face into Fangs’ neck. She didn’t want to hear this. He wanted to be with her? Then why was he with Kitty just now? “I’m so confused.” 

“Is it really that confusing? You have undeniable chemistry that both of you refuse to acknowledge.” Fangs said. “Maybe if you just gave it a chance-“ 

“I can’t.” Lav quickly said. “I’m with James now.” The way she said it made Fangs feel unnerved. Like she was afraid. His suspicion of how her talk with him only grew even more. 

“Okay…okay, let’s just Netflix and chill without the sex then.” Fangs said, pushing his own worries away for the time being in order to comfort her.


	11. Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: minor alcoholism 
> 
> I didn't go out of town this weekend so I was able to update this sooner than originally planned. :) 
> 
> For updates, mood boards, playlists, exclusive blurbs Sp x Lav blurbs, and more, visit my [tumblr](http://theangriestpea.tumlr.com)!
> 
> My next day off isn't until Friday but I plan on writing a blurb that was requested. It will only be posted on Tumblr though.

“I’d like something a little stronger than caffeine.” The shaggy haired customer said as he looked at the menu placed on the wall behind Lavender. “You know, something that’ll keep me awake better than three shots of espresso.”

Lavender stared at him, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. Every time a customer came and asked her for something stronger than what they technically offered, she panicked. It wasn’t visible on her blank face, thank God. She was somewhat actually good at this. 

“That’s cash only.” She said evenly, gauging the waters. Every person to ask for that bright color stick of powder, she immediately questioned whether or not they were an undercover cop. Maybe they were onto her. Maybe someone tipped them off. She felt like she was losing years off of her life from the stress alone. 

“I’ll take two.” The man said with a sly smile on his lips. He had been told he could score here but he hadn’t actually believed his source. Now getting Jingle Jangle on the Northside was going to be easier than ever. 

Lavender bent down to a cabinet hidden under the counter and took out two striped paper straws of stimulant. She placed them in a brown paper bag that they used for their pastries. “That’ll be ten dollars.” 

“Ten dollars for just two? That’s ridiculous!” He said, raising his voice a little. “Come on, can’t you cut me a discount. Buy one get one free? Half off?” James had warned her about this. Said customers would haggle her but to only agree to it if they started to make too much of a scene. 

“Ten.” Lavender said, her voice growing harder, “or you get none.” She wasn’t going to give in to demands that easily though. She had a quota she had to meet and she wasn’t paying out of pocket for what she didn’t sell or paying the price difference in what she sold at a cheaper price. Maybe if she was bad enough at this, they’d ask her to stop. 

The customer slapped down a ten dollar bill and snatched the bag from her hands. Lavender took the bill and stuffed it into her pocket with the rest of them. She hated to admit how each transaction got a little easier. 

Coming back to work this week had been rougher than she imagined. Sure her bruises were almost all gone and her ribs didn’t hurt nearly as much so she didn’t need anything stronger than a low dose of ibuprofen but the _stress_ of selling drugs under the table was making her lose sleep. In fact, the only time she did sleep was when she passed out from drinking too much. 

It had become a habit that she was trying to keep under wraps. Stupid things like spiking her drinks to make it look like she wasn’t slowly becoming alcoholic. Adding Kahlua to her coffee on her break. Putting a heavy dose of root beer schnapps in her favorite soda. Sometimes the occasional shot of tequila with her lemonade. And in the morning a screwdriver to ease away her pounding headache. Any excuse to drink was a good excuse to her. 

If anyone noticed, then they didn’t say a word. However, Lavender had become pretty keen at keeping it hidden. There were mislabeled bottles stashed all over her house at this point. Luckily her friends didn’t have a habit of rifling through her cabinets. 

Speaking of friends. She hadn’t spoken to Sweet Pea since Saturday after she woke up with him. She had been avoiding him, thinking it was easier that way. She hadn’t asked him to come over. Fangs was with her Saturday while Toni and Cheryl were with her both Sunday and Monday. Last night Fangs was with her again but she knew he had to watch his sister tonight. She also didn’t want to ask Cheryl and Toni again because she didn’t want to eat up all of the couple’s alone time. 

Which left Sweet Pea. 

She wasn’t going to call him. She had already made that decision. Instead she was going to heavy handedly pour her drinks tonight to try and get by without anyone. It needed to be his way. She needed to learn not to be afraid to sleep by herself. It had been three and a half weeks. No one was going to be with her all the time and she had to accept that. 

As her shift came to a close, she had sold almost all of her product. It didn’t matter, James would be giving her more tomorrow after school when he pretended to be lovey-dovey with her. They were officially an item now. Well, to the outside world at least. They weren’t in Lavender’s heart and they never will be. She just had to buy some time as she figured out a plan that wouldn’t end up with her broken and beaten and tortured again. 

She tucked her flask of Kahlua in with her bag as she stashed the Jingle Jangle in her locker to keep it safe. She double checked the combination lock, making sure it was secure before telling her manager a polite goodbye. Then she hastily made her way out of the coffee shop and to her car. Once inside she took out the flask and took a long gulp of the liquid, enjoying the strong aftertaste it left. A sigh left her lips as she threw it back into her bag and started the engine, making her way back to Sunnyside. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Lavender was alone in her trailer. The glass of root beer in her hand had been eighty percent schnapps and was now half empty. Her head span as she whimpered out a soft cry. How did she get into this situation? What exactly had her father done to the Ghoulies? How long was she going to have to work for them in order to pay back his debt? 

The guilt was eating her alive. She never wanted to sell drugs and she felt like she was betraying the Serpents. She couldn’t even tell them the simple detail as to what they attacked her with (though Sweets figured it out, he hadn’t told anyone). How was she supposed to tell them that she was being forced to sell Jingle Jangle? Would they strip her of her jacket and send her on her way? Alone in the world with no one but James to continue to control her every move? 

She found her finger hovering over an old text message conversation with Sweet Pea. It had been about a job they did months ago, nothing recent. A deep breath ran through her, sending a small shock of pain in her bruised ribs. She let the alcohol take the wheel as she typed out a half hazard message to him, asking him to come over. 

An hour past and there was still no reply. She figured he was preoccupied with that annoying black haired girl that she couldn’t stand. It was just her luck too. The more time that slipped by, the more she drank. Her glass was empty and the world was fuzzy. This was better than nothing. 

She heard her doorknob turn and her heart jumped into her throat. Had she forgotten to lock the door in her tipsy state? How could she be so stupid? The door opened and a giant filled the frame, looking more tired than he usually did. 

Lavender blinked at Sweet Pea. She hadn’t expected him to come, especially after he didn’t answer her text. What was he doing here now? “I was doing a job for FP.” He said, not outright apologizing but there was a hint of it in his tone. 

Her text had been garbled. Almost every word was so mistyped that autocorrect couldn’t even figure it out. Sweet Pea knew she had to have been drinking. He had suspected it at school as well just by the hazy look she had in her eyes half the time. He had even voiced his concerns to FP that night who said that he’d look into it but for the time being, keep an extra close eye on her. 

Sweet Pea had known she would be alone tonight and he had planned on stopping by anyway. She had been expertly avoiding him since that day she came to his trailer and ran off, upset. He never found out what it was that she had come there for. Despite pretending like he didn’t care, he was at the very least curious. Word around school was that she and James were dating now, shouldn’t that make her happy? She’s been drowning herself ever since. Something wasn’t right. 

“Rhodes…let’s get you to bed.” Sweet Pea said softly. It hurt him to see her like this. Perhaps everything that happened was finally crashing down upon her. 

Lavender just nodded her head numbly. She stood up, stumbling a little before making her way to the bedroom. Sweet Pea followed her to make sure she wouldn’t throw up or pass out in some uncomfortable position. Plus, he missed being in bed with her. Not that he would tell _anyone_ that. 

She stripped off her shirt, too drunk to care about being modest. That’s when he saw them. The yellow and brown hand shaped bruise around her upper arm and the new light blue one around her wrist. She had been wearing a long sleeve shirt since it was colder outside now, it covered the marks perfectly. 

Sweets gently grabbed her forearm, holding her arm out between them. Rage filled him and he had to remind himself not to simply explode on her. “What the hell is this?!” He asked, looking over the bruises, “did that bastard do this to you?” His voice was raised louder than he had intended. She flinched at the harsh sound, trying to pull away from him. 

He let her go to give her space, Lavender fell into a heap onto her bed. Tears were trailing down her cheeks. “He’s a Ghoulie.” She muttered low, hoping he wouldn’t hear her but needing to say it nonetheless. 

Sweet Pea knelt down in front of her, trying to look less threatening. He knew his size could be intimidating, so maybe getting closer to her would help ease her obvious nerves. She held her breath, waiting for him to react. 

“Was he one of them…?” He asked, not needing to be specific for her to understand what he was asking. 

Lavender nodded her head weakly, biting her lip to keep a sob inside. He had a very mixed look on his face. Anger, hatred, confusion, worry, and soon enough the shock value wore off. He reached out and cupped her face, wiping the tears away. He wanted to say he was right. He wanted to tell her that she should have listened to him. But Sweet Pea knew that those weren’t the things she needed to hear. 

For whatever reason she was now dating one of the men that raped her, and he wanted to know why. “That’s why you came to my trailer the other day. You found out.” He said, not really needing an answer because it was the only reason he could think of for her coming to him. 

She leaned her face into his hand, finally letting out a tiny sigh. “Yes.” Her eyes closed for a moment, their heart to heart was sobering her enough to think straight. Once her eyes opened back up they were focused on him. “Please, you can’t tell anyone.” Her good hand grabbed his wrist that was by her face, “promise me, Sweet Pea. Promise you won’t tell FP or Jughead or Fangs. He will hurt me, worse than before. _Please_ …” Her voice cracked and more tears came out before she could say any more. His heart broke for her, seeing her like this, knowing the looming threat that was now over her head. 

“I’ll kill him.” Sweet Pea said, his anger more evident as he leaned up to bring her shaking body into his chest so that he could hold her close. “No one is going to lay another hand on you, Shanna. I promise.” He had never used her real name before. It felt so foreign to her. His sincerity something totally different than what she had ever seen from him. 

Her arms looped around his neck to hold him close, sniffling into the crook of his neck as he simply held her in any attempt to comfort her. _In unity there is strength_ , the words echoed in her head. Was Sweet Pea just being a good serpent or did he actually care? 

“You were right.” Lavender mumbled, her lips brushing against his skin. He tensed at the sensation, trying not to think about it. “You and Fangs tried to tell me, but I didn’t listen. Why am I so stupid? How could I think anyone would want me after what happened?” 

She shuddered as she held in another cry. Sweet Pea rubbed her bare back, her skin soft and smooth under his calluses. “Guys still want you, Rhodes. You broke a lot of hearts when you came out as being that ghoul’s girlfriend.” Sweet Pea said, thinking to himself that one of those hearts had been his. He was not about to admit that to anyone though. Not now, not ever. 

Several other serpents were upset that she was dating someone. Other students they went to school with were annoyed that she didn’t spurn the new kid’s advances like she had everyone else’s. 

A sarcastic laugh left her lips. She didn’t believe him. He was just trying to make her feel better, though she appreciated the effort. “Can you stay with me tonight?” She braced herself for his reaction. She had been giving him the cold shoulder for the past four days. Now here she was crying on his shoulder. She didn’t expect him to give in to her, not after how she had been treating him. 

“Yea.” Sweet Pea said softly as he pried her off of him. “Just finish changing clothes first. I’ll be right back.” 

He left her room, making her feel empty as ever inside. She took off her bra and pants, finding an oversized T-shirt to slip on as she crawled into bed. Sweet Pea came back in not even five minutes later in a tank top and gym shorts. He laid down beside her, pulling the blankets up over them both. His arm found her waist and he pulled her close to him so she could breathe in his scent. A deep sigh left her as she closed her eyes, sleep finally overcoming her now that she felt safe. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Lavender and Sweet Pea both groaned at the sound of her alarm going off. His face was between her shoulder blades, eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to try and fall back asleep. She reached over the best she could to slap the snooze button. His arms were tight around her waist, making it difficult to even reach the clock. 

“We have to get up.” Lavender said, feeling his grip get even tighter as he pulled her close against him. Sweet Pea clearly had other plans. 

She weighed the options in her head. Stay here all day with Sweet Pea or go to school with James. One sounded amazing but if she didn’t show up James would get suspicious. He may even come looking for her, and if he found her here with him? She was afraid of what he’d do. Plus he needed to give her more Jingle Jangle to sell at the coffee shop in the afternoon. 

Thank god she hadn’t told Sweet Pea all the details. She was drunk enough to let it slip that he was a Ghoulie but not much else. 

“Let’s play hooky.” Sweet Pea countered, hoping she’d stay in bed with him just a little longer. 

“I can’t. He’ll come looking for me…” Lav said softly. He instantly pulled his arms out from around her. He didn’t want her to get hurt more because of him. An annoyed sigh came out of his mouth as he sat up and rubbed his eyes groggily. 

Lavender got up and started picking out her outfit for the day, looking for a sweater to put on to cover her new bruises. “We have to tell Fangs.” 

“Absolutely not.” Lavender snapped back. “I shouldn’t have even told you! Besides, you promised me you wouldn’t.” 

“I’m surprised you remember anything considering how much you probably drank yesterday.” Sweet Pea replied sourly, watching her go through the clothes in her closet. 

She glared at him over her shoulder, “what was that?” 

Sweet Pea got out of the bed. “You heard me. You think I haven’t seen that flask you keep in her locker? Or the smell of booze coming off of you almost twenty-four seven. How about the fact that I could even barely comprehend the text you sent last night because you were too drunk to type straight? You need to stop.” 

“You don’t need to tell me what to do, I get enough of that from _him_.” Lav replied, starting to get angry at her minor blossoming alcoholism being called out. 

His anger flared at being compared to a boy that was abusing her. “Don’t you _ever_ do that. I’m nothing like that stupid fucking ghoul!” His fists were clenched, she noticed and quickly backed away from him. Her reaction only made him angry, “Do you think I’d stoop to his level? That I’d hurt you?” 

“You already hurt me!” She pleaded back at him, talking about how she felt when she saw him with Kitty or when he made a comment about her being stupid. There were plenty of times he had made her feel horrible. Just because he didn’t put his hands on her, didn’t mean he was innocent. 

Sweet Pea’s eyes widened at the desperate sound of her voice. That’s right. Fangs had told him before that he made her feel like shit. That must have been to what she was referring to. He didn’t have a response to that, not a good one at least. “Lav, I’m-“ 

“Just get out!” She said, not wanting to hear it. It hurt too much to say it out loud, to confess to him how she often felt when he said something snide to her. Especially after her attack. She was so much more sensitive now it seemed. 

He didn’t fight her, instead he walked out still clenching his fists. Another day, another fuck up. Why couldn’t they just get along?


	12. Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: alcohol abuse, suicide reference
> 
> I have a feeling you all are going to _love_ this chapter. ;)
> 
> Cross-posted on [Tumblr](http://theangriestpea.tumblr.com)! You can find an exclusive one-shot there where SP teached Lav how to play pool. It's separate from the story and isn't canon to it, so don't worry if you don't want to give it a read. Anything going with the story will be posted here! 
> 
> Also taking requests on Tumblr for anyone interested, just drop it in my ask box :}
> 
> Apologies on how short this chapter is but the ending felt /right/

Sweet Pea was pacing in Fangs’ room while the Latino boy looked up at him curiously. He knew Sweet Pea and Lavender had spent the night together the night before. Lavender had mentioned it to him at school about how much of an ass Sweet Pea was.

He wish they’d just fuck again already and get it over with. 

Fangs could only assume that this was about something that happened. Maybe Sweets had finally realized his feelings or maybe he realized that Kitty wasn’t worth his time. “You’re burning tracks into my carpet, bro.” Fangs finally said so that Sweet Pea would stop his frantic back and forth. 

“You can’t tell Lavender I told you.” Sweet Pea said quickly. Fangs’ eyebrows rose quizzically. Perhaps Lavender was the one that made the confession? Even though she was now with James? Fangs despised the boy more and more after seeing how Lavender’s behavior had changed once they became an item. She was spiraling. Hard. 

Fangs looked up at the giant, “so you two finally admitted your feelings for one another? She’s seeing you behind James’ back? You’re dumping Kitty to pine after Lavender like you’re meant to?” 

Sweet Pea gave him a confused look, pretending to not know at all what Fangs was talking about. “What? No! Lavender told me last night that James is a Ghoulie. She made me promise not to tell anyone.” 

Fury crossed Fangs’ face, “ _What_?” He asked lowly, his mood turning like the tide. “That asshole is a _ghoul_? Did he-“ 

“Yes.” Sweet Pea cut him off, not wanting to hear the question. “He was one of them, yes! She doesn’t want me to do anything about it! I don’t know what to do, it’s eating me alive knowing she’s with him day in and day out. He’s threatening to hurt her again. He’s leaving bruises on her. Fangs, we have to do something without telling the other Serpents.” 

Fangs stood up from his bed, fists clenched into tight balls. “I thought she was just drinking more because the shock of it all had finally gone away and she was finally living with what happened. Damn it, how’d she even get herself in this mess?” 

“She didn’t say but I think there’s more to the situation than she was letting on.” Sweet Pea added. “I think they’re targeting her for a reason.” 

The smaller boy nodded in agreement. “Although, he is a Ghoulie. This could just be for his sadistic pleasure.” Fangs pointed out, knowing that the Ghoulies had absolutely no ethics or code of honor. “What are we going to do?” 

“I haven’t figured that out yet…” 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

“All of this needs to be gone by tomorrow, got it?” James asked, watching Lavender place the package of Jingle Jangle into her bag. 

Her eyes widened as she looked up at him, “all of it? I barely sold half of what you gave me yesterday!” 

“Every. Last. Straw.” James said, enunciating each word. “Or there will be consequences. Now, get to work.” He said, slapping her on the ass to make her hurry along. Everyone else might have seen it as a sign of affection but to her it was just a symbolism of his control over her and her body. It made her sick. In fact, she would have puked if there had been a convenient place to do it. Instead she swallowed the bile that rose in her throat and high tailed it to her car. She didn’t know how she was supposed to do this. 

She couldn’t just sell them at a cheaper rate because then she would have to cover costs. It might be an easier loss than not selling at all. After unlocking her car door she reached into her bag and pulled out her pink flask. She glanced around to make sure no one was looking before taking a large gulp of the vodka inside. The burn of the alcohol was better than the burn of stomach acid she had just felt. 

Quickly she tucked the flask back into her bag. Her grip on the steering wheel tight as she took a shallow breath. There was faint aching in her ribs that she tried to focus on. Feeling pain was better than feeling nothing at all. She was so numb from constantly consuming alcohol. She didn’t want to face her emotions. The terrible things that might happen to her if she didn’t do as her new boyfriend asked. There was nothing she could do and she knew it. 

Lav drove to the coffee shop, clocked in and put her apron on. She got behind the counter and served customers with a tipsy smile. More than a few times she got the request for something extra with their coffee and she obliged. She decided to sell the JJ buy two get one free just to get rid of it. She sold more, yes, but what she gave away for free she’d have to pay for. Her barely above minimum wage job would have to cover it. Luckily she had money saved from her father’s life insurance to pay her bills. 

More than once she went to the back, pretending to get supplies and instead was drinking more and more. The guilt eating away at her like a disease. The money she was making would have gone to groceries but now it’s going to the Ghoulies. What would she eat? What if she couldn’t afford more alcohol? Shit, she should ration it but then she’d start feeling again. 

She tipped back the flask, the last drop sliding out onto her tongue. Lavender cursed, not hearing the door open behind her. 

“Shanna, what are you doing?” She quickly snapped her head to see her manager standing there, looking at her with a disapproving look. “Are you drunk?” 

“N-No!” She stammered, trying to hide the flask behind her back. “I’m just not feeling well tonight! I’ve got this head cold that’s really getting to me.” She lied, thinking that maybe it’d excuse her strange behavior. She wasn’t drunk, she was sick. 

Her manager didn’t seem to buy it. “Go home, Shanna. If you’re sick then you need to rest.” 

“I _can’t_!” Lavender said back quickly. If she left then she couldn’t sell the rest of the drugs. She’d lose even more money. There was no way she could cover cost! “I’m fine, really. I can finish tonight, I promise!” 

Her manager lifted up her hand to silence her. “No, clock out and go home. I’ll call someone in to finish your shift.” The older woman gave the teen a reassuring smile. “You look like you could use some extra sleep.” 

Tears started welling in Lavender’s eyes but she did not let them spill. “Let me clean up first.” She said softly, grabbing her bag from her locker before walking behind the counter. She quickly stashed what was left in the drugs in her bag before leaving, stumbling a little as she did so from the mixture of raw emotion and alcohol. She knew she shouldn’t drive, but what was she to do? 

She started her car and drove as carefully as she could home, going slower than usual and trying to keep the tears back. She hadn’t counted how much she had left but it had to have been several hundred dollars’ worth. Much more than she could really afford to have not sold. This was a nightmare. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Sweet Pea received yet another garbled text from Lavender. He knew she was supposed to be at work and told Fangs he’d check on her later when she was off to make sure she wasn’t drinking herself into oblivion. Maybe he lost track of time? He glanced at the clock but it was only half passed five. Lav didn’t usually get off until eight or nine. 

Something must have happened then. He stood up from his couch and grabbed his leather jacket, throwing it on. He looked at his duffle that had spare clothes in them for when he spent the night with her and grabbed it too just in case. He wanted to spend more nights with her. Often times he was more worried than not. She reminded him too much of his brother sometimes. 

He started drinking too. After he came home from deployment. He’d have a far out look in his eye as he chugged back bottles of bourbon. Never sleeping or eating, just wasting away on the couch. 

It wasn’t long before Pea found him, gun in hand, blood sprayed across the room, a note taped onto his dog tags that he never took off. _I need to stop the war zone in my head. I’m sorry._

He knew Lavender had a war zone going on in her head too. How could she not? He had to intervene before it was too late. Before she wound up like him. He couldn’t handle the thought of cradling the body of someone else he loved while screaming out to God to bring them back. 

For a moment he hesitated, did he love her? That was a strange thought. 

Sweet Pea shook his head and walked the few blocks down to her trailer. Her car was parked crookedly in the driveway. _Christ_ did she drive home after drinking? Anger welled in the pit of his stomach. Why was she being so careless? Not only could she have killed herself, she could have killed someone else. 

This had to stop. 

Sweet Pea tried to open the door but it was locked. He banged on the door for her to open it for him. He wish she’d just give him a key. 

The door cracked open to show Lavender with mascara running down her face. Damn if she didn’t make it look beautiful. Sweet Pea walked in when she moved to the side for him. 

“What happened?” Sweet Pea asked hesitantly, not really wanting her to get even more upset. “Why aren’t you at work?” 

“I’m dead, Pea, I’m dead.” Lavender said, hiccuping back a cry. “He’s going to kill me if I don’t come up with the money, _or worse_.” 

He stood there awkwardly, wanting to hug her but also not thinking that was entirely appropriate. “Money for what?” 

She stumbled over to her bag and opened it to show him the colorful paper straws inside. His eyes widened. “He has you selling Jingle Jangle?” Sweet Pea asked, his voice raised much higher than it was before. “Why didn’t you tell me last night?!” 

“I couldn’t!” Lav replied, more tears finally escaping her red eyes. “And he said I had to sell it all today but my manger told me to leave early because I told her I was sick to cover up….” Her voice trailed off. 

“To cover up you being drunk.” Sweet Pea said flatly, irritation edging his tone. “You can’t go to work drunk! Did you seriously drive home like this?” 

Lavender put her face in her hands to hide it, turning her back to him to cry in what her drunken mind thought was peace. She didn’t want to be like this. She didn’t want to be so dependent on alcohol to cope with living. But here she was, living the nightmare that was now her life. “What was I supposed to do?” She said in a muffled voice. 

“Call me! Call Fangs! Toni! Literally anyone!” Sweet Pea shot back quickly, not wanting to go easy on her despite the way she was looking. “You don’t need to drive _drunk_! Keller would have thrown your ass in jail if one of his deputies had caught you. Then they would have searched your car and found the Jingle Jangle. You think we can afford bail for a DUI and possession with an intent to distribute? Jesus Christ, Shanna, just think about someone other than yourself for once!” 

“Why did you come?” She yelled back at him, holding her head up and turning to look at him with wide, angry eyes. “Why did you come if you are just going to scream at me about how stupid I am? Like you always do?!” 

“Because I care about you!” Sweet Pea said, practically screaming it now. He was so damn frustrated with her that he couldn’t even think straight. The words just spilled from his mouth, “I don’t want to see you hurt! What else does Colt have you doing, huh? Is he pimping you out too?” The last part was his desperate attempt to change the subject. 

It was too late. 

Lavender was staring at him with wide eyes, having not even heard his last two questions. “Sweet Pea…” She said softly, her eyes warm with fresh tears. A beautiful feeling blossomed in her heart. A passionate heat flooded her veins as she looked at him trying his best to recover from what he had said. He no longer looked angry, red tinting his tan cheeks. He looked like he was about to curse. 

She took a few steps closer so that she was right in front of him. She reached up and grabbed his face, her gaze hazy as she tried to focus on him through her intoxication. Sweet Pea was frozen in place, not knowing how to react. He’d never actually believed he’d tell her out loud that he cared about her. He could barely even think it to himself. 

Unfortunately she was too short to kiss him, even if she went up on her tippy toes. Instead she pulled his head down to give him the hint to bend over. He didn’t fight it, his back bending as he leaned down towards her. Lavender rose up on her toes and planted the gentlest kiss on his lips. An affirmation of her own feelings towards him. 

Sweet Pea had never been kissed tenderly before. Even his first kiss had been a fight of passion. He didn’t know how to react, stiffening at first. No one ever treated him this way. No one was ever soft to him. It felt so bizarre yet comforting and knowing that she shared his feelings made him feel so… _alive_. 

He kissed her back as lightly as he could, wanting to show her that he could be gentle too. She already knew though. She’d seen it first hand when he tended to her wounds. The way he held her at night. It all felt so perfect. 

They parted slightly, still staying close. “You taste like a distillery.” Sweet Pea mumbled to her and Lavender could do nothing but laugh.


	13. War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: depictions of violence at the end of the chapter!
> 
> So I wrote an alternate beginning of this chapter in a world in which Lav wasn't assaulted and was therefor comfortable having sex. You can find it [here](https://theangriestpea.tumblr.com/post/183576805781/sweet-love). 
> 
> I also deeply apologize for this taking so long to get out. I've been going through some rough things and...yea, I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to write. Requests for one-shots and drabbles are open over on my [tumblr](http://theangriestpea.tumblr.com) account!
> 
> Hoping to get chapter 14 out next Monday.

Lavender’s eyes fluttered open to see a bare broad chest in front of her face. She could feel warm fingers drawing little shapes on her lower back absent-mindedly. She glanced up, noting that Sweet Pea’s eyes weren’t open but that he was undoubtedly awake. “Pea?” She asked gently, her voice raw from drinking too much the day before.

They normally didn’t sleep in this position, choosing to spoon instead. Now their legs were entwined together as his arms were around her to hold her close to him. He also normally wore a shirt, she noted and wondered when he stripped himself of it. Not that she minded. Waking up to see his bare muscles was a great way to start the day. 

His chocolate eyes opened and look down at her, a subtle contentedness in them. She couldn’t help but smile, remembering the night before how he told her that he cared about her. She never did give him a formal response, just kissing him instead. It was all he needed to know that she felt the same. 

She leaned up and kissed him again, not being able to hold herself back. Sweet Pea’s grip around her waist tightened, pulling her body flush against his as he returned the kiss. It was tender and sweet like the night before. 

Lavender reluctantly pulled away when she noticed how bright her room was. “What time is it?” She asked, her heart rate sky rocketing suddenly. There was never this much sunlight before her alarm went off. She started to struggle against his grip, sending shocks of pain from her still fractured ribs. Sweet Pea held her down and didn’t let go no matter how hard she tried to push away from him. 

“It’s nine-thirty.” Sweet Pea said, as if it were nothing. “I turned your alarm off.” 

“You _what_?!” Lavender practically screeched. “He’s going to kill me, Sweet Pea! No, he’s going to do worse!” 

Sweet Pea had to refrain from rolling his eyes at her, though he did flinch at the high octave of her voice. “I have a plan, okay? We’re going to go to FP and we’re going to tell him everything. He’ll know what to do.” 

Lavender was in tears from the panic she was feeling. The pain in her side growing worse. She didn’t want to tell FP. James’ threat echoed painfully in her head. _Round two._ He promised her a round two if she told anyone. Why didn’t SP realize that he was putting her in grave danger? 

“Rhodes, listen to me.” Sweet Pea said, his voice growing stern. “We can’t do this alone. We need FP. Fangs already knows and agrees with me that we need help. We’ll protect you. No Serpent stands alone. You’re one of us. No Ghoulie is going to touch you ever again.” He held her shaking body close a few more seconds before finally releasing her. 

Lavender was no longer fighting him. She wiped away her own tears before sitting up slowly. “You’re an ass. You promised me you wouldn’t tell anyone.” 

Sweet Pea rolled over onto his back, giving her an amused look. He moved one hand to rest behind his head. “Did you really think I wouldn’t tell my best friend, who also happens to be your best friend?” He asked, knowing the answer was obvious. 

Lavender decided to change the subject, “why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” She chanced a look at his chest and stomach, eyes lingering perhaps a little too long. Sweet Pea smirked at the look on her face. 

“I was hot. Holding you is like holding fire when you’ve been drinking.” Sweet Pea replied simply. 

Lavender shook her head at him, standing up and giving him the perfect view of her ass that was only covered by her pastel pink underwear. Her shirt quickly fell down to cover it up, though just barely. Sweet Pea frowned having not had nearly enough time to enjoy the sight. 

She bent over, looking through her dresser so that her shirt rode up again. Did she have no idea what she was doing to him? Now that they were over hating each other, it was hard to squash his sexual thoughts. He knew she wasn’t in the right headspace for that though. There’s no telling when she would be. Maybe once this situation with James was over and done with. Maybe when she finally felt safe again. 

He simply let out a groan of frustration, earning him a very confused look from Lavender. “What?” 

“Look babe, I know you’re not trying to tease me but if you keep showing your ass to me then I’ll need to excuse myself.” Sweet Pea said in a flat tone. Her face turned bright red and she suddenly tugged on the shirt she was wearing. 

“Pervert.” She huffed under her breath, turning her back to him once more to hide her embarrassment. Her heart was fluttering in her chest at the pet name he used. The only time he used any kind of term of endearment was way back in July when they didn’t even know one another. It felt good to be called something other than her last name by him. Behind her she heard Sweet Pea laugh lightly, the sound like beautiful music to her ears. 

After grabbing some clothes she turned back around. “Not to give you any more of a hard on, but I need to take a shower. We can go to the Jones’ trailer when I get out.” Before he could respond, Lavender disappeared into her bathroom. 

Once out of his sight, she smiled. It was stupid. James hadn’t even made her feel this good but she had been so enamored with him…or so she thought. Now she realized he was just a distraction. Perhaps all along she should have been chasing Sweet Pea instead…he had been so great to her despite how sometimes he could be so against her. He was a jerk but he always made up for it. 

She turned on the water, feeling frustrated herself. The kiss left her wanting more, however her anxiety was also extremely high at the thought of having sex. She just immediately thought of those four men holding her down that night. This horror fell over her when she realized that even with Sweet Pea she didn’t feel completely safe. She wasn’t able to fully trust him to not hurt her. That was probably one of the worst feelings in the world right now. 

When she was drunk she had thrown herself at him without problem. Deep down she knew though that she had just been looking for an escape. Hell, if Fangs had been the one to walk in she might very well have jumped in too. As she shed her clothes and stepped into the hot water, she was happy to know that Sweet Pea had refused her. He showed her an amount of respect that most other guys wouldn’t have in that situation. 

Lavender quickly washed up, dried off, and got dressed. She put on light makeup. Her bruises had healed and though the scratches were still across her face, they weren’t nearly as noticeable. Her wrist of course was still in a cast, but that would be taken off about the same time her ribs should be done healing in two and a half weeks. 

She still wasn’t very confident in how she looked. SP didn’t look at her like she was any different, not like he did the first week or so. He stopped giving her the pity looks, instead there was just this dull heat in his eyes. Suddenly she realized it was from wanting to tell her his feelings. The irritation of not telling her his motives must have been eating away at him. It did explain a lot of his past actions. 

“Lavender, hurry up.” Sweet Pea said outside the door, “FP is waiting on us.” 

She rolled her eyes and opened the door to see him dressed. “Alright, let’s go.” 

Sweet Pea spun his keys around in his fingers. He was sure to keep his eyes from roving over her, not wanting her to feel any more uncomfortable than he may have already made her. He was somewhat worried that he had crossed a line before with his comment. 

But, Lavender didn’t look at all perturbed by him. She even gave him a small smile, as if sensing his insecurity. 

“Think you’re healed enough to ride the bike?” Sweet Pea asked as he led her outside. He knew before it would have been very difficult for her to hold on without being in pain. 

Lav tried to stop the heat from coming back to her face as she realized that if she said yes then she’d have to hold onto him. At night or intoxicated it was easy, but for some reason during the day and sober it was completely different. She bit her lip, glad that he couldn’t see the expression on her face. “I should be fine.” 

They went to his bike that was parked out front. Sweet Pea got on, handing his helmet to Lav. She took it and popped it onto her head as she got on behind him. Her arms snaked around her waist. She had ridden on the back of Fangs’ motorcycle hundreds of times. This shouldn’t be any different. 

Sweet Pea started the motorcycle before revving it. As he took off Lavender’s grip tightened considerably, earning a smirk from the driver. 

About ten minutes later they arrived at the Serpent King’s trailer. They could have just walked but honestly Sweet Pea wanted an excuse to feel Lavender pressed against his back. 

He parked his baby, kicking out the kickstand. Lavender hopped off, tearing herself away from him as quickly as possible. She took off the helmet and placed it on the seat where she had just been sitting. Sweet Pea pretended not to notice her haste, taking his time in getting off. 

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.” Sweet Pea said in a low voice. “If you want me to do all the talking, I will.” 

She stared up at him, wondering how someone could be so soft yet so brash in a turn of an instant. Slowly she nodded her head at him, knowing that if she did have to say anything than she’d probably break down. This was the longest she’d been sober since she started “dating” James. It was starting to wear her down. 

It dawned at her that he was probably trying to get into contact with her and her phone was still on her nightstand. She swallowed hard, knowing that this couldn’t end well. No one could be with her a hundred percent of the time, right? She was bound to end up alone, and when she did she would be easy prey. 

Lavender had hold Sweet Pea everything that had happened last night. He was a good listener when he wanted to be. When his feelings or pride weren’t in the way. 

Sweets’ large fist knocked on the front door. A familiar bark came from inside and a few moments later FP answered. “You two should really be in school.” 

“This is urgent, FP.” Sweet Pea said, sounding the slightest bit desperate. “Rhodes is in danger.” 

FP’s eyes flicked to Lavender who was looking increasingly more nervous. She was biting down on her lip hard, pulling at the sleeves of her black cardigan. Her weight shifted under his gaze, further revealing her unease. 

He opened the door to let the two teenagers inside. Once in, FP motioned towards the couch for them to sit. When they sat down he noticed that they were closer together than what would have been considered normal for them. He quirked a brow, wondering if things had finally come to a head. It was obvious that they shared some kind of romantic feelings. Well, obvious to everyone but themselves. 

“James Colt is a Ghoulie.” Sweet Pea said. “One of _the_ Ghoulies.” He hoped that it would be enough implication that he wouldn’t have to further explain. 

FP looked between the two of them, “you still never told me what they used.” 

Lavender’s body visibly stiffened. Her eyes cast downwards to the carpet to avoid looking at either man. Sweet Pea forced himself to not look at her, his leg brushing against her knee slightly in order to provide some kind of comfort. 

“It was the same thing that was used on those other two Serpents. If you want me to say it out loud, then I will. Just not with her here.” Sweet Pea said, sounding more demanding than he really had the right to be. Lav greatly appreciated him in that moment, wanting to kiss him to show her gratitude. 

FP let out a small sigh, sitting down in his armchair. “So you’re telling me that your new boyfriend was one of the ghouls that attacked you? If you know that then why are you with him?” 

She looked to Sweet Pea to answer for her. Sweet Pea ran a hand through his hair. “She didn’t know. Not at first, then he threatened her. Said him and some of his friends would attack her again if she told anyone.” 

“But she told you.” FP said skeptically. 

“Get enough alcohol in her and she has very loose lips.” Sweet Pea said, trying not to smirk confidently at knowing this little tidbit of information on Lavender. She shot him an annoyed look that he pretended to miss. 

Jones knew there was more going on than what Pea was telling him, however he didn’t press it. “Alright, so why aren’t you at school today? Couldn’t you have told me this afternoon?” 

“No sir,” Lavender said, her voice quiet. “It couldn’t wait…” She trailed off, suddenly losing the small amount of strength she had found to speak. 

“Colt has her selling JJ at work. Yesterday she got sent home early because she was sick. She was supposed to sell it all but didn’t, now she owes them a lot of money. If she doesn’t pay up then they’re going to attack her again.” Sweet Pea explained, taking back control of the conversation. 

FP nodded, “but he’s already going to attack her because she told you.” He pointed out. 

“What do we do about the drugs?” Sweets asked, deflecting FP’s point. “He’s going to come looking for her and them and his money.” 

“Destroy them.” FP said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “No Serpent will be dealing as long as I’m king. There’s enough of that shit in Riverdale thanks to Hiram and the Ghoulies. I don’t care how you do it, just get rid of them so that no one else can get their hands on them. As for Lavender, I’ll assign a three man protection detail. Sweet Pea, you and Fangs will continue to do your part as two of them. I’ll add Jug as the third for when both of you are busy. Topaz and her girlfriend can help too. I know how you kids like to stick together. Now is the time to do it.” 

Lavender felt a small amount of relief enter her body. The weight of keeping all of this from her leader was finally lifted. Though she didn’t like the idea of destroying the Jingle Jangle, it was a solution to her problem. 

Both FP and Sweet Pea noticed the way her shoulders relaxed slightly, the small exhale of breath from her lips. “As for Colt. Sweet Pea and Fangs are going to give him the _finest_ Serpent welcome they can muster.” FP said with a sly grin. Now he had at least one name of her attackers, he could finally do something about it. Something he was burning to do since he got the frantic call from Fangs. 

“Can I use my bat?” Sweet Pea asked, just to clarify. 

“Boy, I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.” 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

After the discussion, Lavender and Sweet Pea retreated back to her house. She checked her phone and found several missed calls and over a dozen text messages from James demanding to know where she was. Her hands shook furiously as she looked at the device. Sweet Pea noticed and plucked it from her hand, typing a reply of his own to James. 

School was out and the battle was about to begin. 

Fangs stood, brass knuckles in his clenched fists. He bounced from one foot to the other in anticipation, ready to unleash his fury onto one of the boys that had made his best friend so miserable. Sweet Pea was twirling his wooden bat around, admiring the weight in his hands. 

Lavender was on the couch, feeling nauseous from surmounting anxiety. They had burned the JJ so that there was nothing left. FP had insisted she keep the money that she had made and not give it over to the Ghoulies. It would make up for her having to leave work early. Sweet Pea had forced her to call in sick today to make sure she was safe at home while they took care of her soon to be ex-boyfriend. 

The sun was starting to set and the streetlights had just flickered on. It was quiet besides the teen boys’ fidgeting around. Suddenly there was a long banging at the door, making Lav jump up from her laying position. Sweet Pea and Fangs both shot her a look at that told her to stay put. 

Fangs opened the door with Sweet Pea ready, bat reared back over his shoulder. As soon as the old wood was out of the way, Pea swung with all his might. The barrel hitting James right in the chest. The blow knocked him backwards down the few sets of steps. He landed with a sickening thud, head bouncing off the hard dirt walkway. 

Stars danced in his vision as he tried to sit up, however before he could even recover Fangs was on top of him. His brass clad fist came in contact with James’ face. The sound of bone cracking sending thrills of adrenaline through the Serpents. 

Fangs punched him a few more times, aiming for different parts of his face. His cheeks, his jaw, his nose, anything to cause the maximum amount of damage. Sweet Pea reared his bat once more. “Fogarty, leave some for me.” He growled out, ready for a piece of action. 

He got up and moved so that Sweet Pea could bring another swing down onto James. This time he hit his abdomen and there was yet another creak of bones giving into pressure. Sweets hit him again. And again. _And again_. Fogarty kicking Colt in different places of his body in between each blow. 

All of Sunnyside could hear James’ screaming. Lavender was inside, her hands over her ears and her eyes screwed shut. Flashbacks of her own assault striking her almost as hard as Pea’s bat struck her assailant. It hurt. It hurt _so_ damn much. 

Jughead pulled up to the trailer in his dad’s truck. He got out to assess the damage. “Stop.” He ordered as Sweet Pea got into position to swing once more. “We don’t want to kill him. That doesn’t send a message.” 

He crouched down to James’ level. FP had filled him in on everything going on so that he was up to speed. “No Serpent is going to sell drugs for a Ghoulie, got that? And no Ghoulie touches a Serpent without repercussion. You wanted a war? You got a war.”


	14. Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, this is my longest chapter to date! I kept getting stuck but I finally hammered it out. I hope everyone enjoys some good Swavie content!
> 
> As always, cross-posted onto my writing [tumblr](https://theangriestpea.tumblr.com/)! You can also find one-shots involving Sweet Pea and Lavender as well as some Sweet Pea x Reader one-shots!

The night following James’ attack, Lavender had to be coaxed to bed with a half empty bottle of rum. Hearing the Ghoulies’ screams had forced her to go into a very dark place in her head. Before that drunken night on the side of the road, she could handle violence. She didn’t thirst for it like the boys seemed to, but she had a stomach for it.

But that was the old Lavender. The new Lavender was screaming with him from inside her trailer, her heart racing so hard inside of her chest that her whole upper torso felt like it was on fire. 

When Fangs opened the door to her trailer he rushed over to her. Both he and Sweet Pea gathered her into their arms. She was hiccuping back tears between them, not really knowing whose hands were where but feeling comforted by both of them. 

Fangs spoke softly to her, telling her it was okay and that she was safe. He was much better at calming her down vocally than Sweet Pea who felt so out of place. Sweets wished he could do something other than just hold her, but he let Fangs take the lead. This was his friend’s forte and he knew that. 

Eventually, after taking in a few shots of alcohol, the boys got her into bed so she could rest. She insisted that the rum stay on her bedside table though so she could sip it during the night whenever she woke up from a nightmare. Sweet Pea didn’t want to let her but caved at her begging him. He found himself unable to tell her no this time around. 

It was probably one of the roughest nights to date for both Sweet Pea and Lavender. Every hour she woke up upset and every hour he struggled to calm her down. When her alarm went off the next morning, they were both exhausted. There was no point in staying home though, she wouldn’t be able to sleep any more than she already had. 

Time moved slowly but ultimately uneventfully until Friday night. There was a Serpent meeting at the Wyrm. Lavender was dressed in a pastel and black skater dress and her serpent jacket. She hadn’t put it on awhile and it felt good to be wearing it again. With her favorite girlfriends by her side, she felt confident. 

She was also excited to be seen as someone that should be included in the gang’s business again. It made her feel better in the recovery she had achieved. Sure she still had her cast on but that would be off in another two weeks. It was barely visible with her jacket on anyway. 

Her makeup was on point, hair in a high pony. Over all she felt fierce and she felt herself again. She was in between Toni and Cheryl, their arms all linked together as they walked up to the Wyrm. Last time she was here she drunkenly came onto Sweet Pea. Briefly she was kind of hoping they’d find their way back in that closet again in the same position, except this time she’d be a little more sober. He couldn’t resist her now, could he? She hoped not. 

Lavender had only had sex (consensually) twice since her one night stand with Sweets. Neither time her partner was as good as he had been. 

She hadn’t seen James at school since Fangs and Sweet Pea jumped him. There were rumors that he was in the hospital recovering but she wasn’t sure how true that was. Other rumors said he scampered back to Greendale but that she definitely didn’t believe. 

It had only been two days but already James being out of her line of sight had done her wonders. Knowing there was some sliver of justice in the world for what happened to her was healing as well. She drank a little less. She slept a little easier. It was nice. Of course sometimes she would drift into the darkness and think about how there were three more men out that that had put their hands on her. Usually during those moments she planted her face into Sweet Pea’s chest and just held him tightly until the smell of his cologne made the light come back on in her head. 

Naturally Sweet Pea would hold her back in his own quiet way. He was glad that she seemed to be relieved just from the contact and didn’t need him to talk her down from any ledge she might have been on. 

“Want your usual, Lavie?” Toni asked, breaking away from her to go behind the bar. Cheryl was slipping onto a bar stool, adjusting the fit of her bright red jacket. 

Lavender sat down next to her. She actually hadn’t had a drink today, so perhaps one or two wouldn’t hurt. “Can you add an extra cherry?” She asked, looking around the bar to see if she could find her two favorite boys – her best friend and…what exactly was Sweet Pea? 

She bit her lip at the thought of the conversation they had yet to have. He had spent every night with her this past week. She heard Toni slide the drink in front of her. 

Lav picked up the cherry by the stem, her eyes traveling to Sweet Pea who had just noticed her presence. He watched as she slowly took the cherry into her mouth, teasing him with the way her lips wrapped around it. 

Sweets swallowed hard at the image she was giving him. She took the fruit into her mouth and plucked off the stem. A small smirk pulled his lips on one side when he realized she was purposefully putting on a show for him. At last she looked like the girl he met that first night in July again. 

She turned away from him with a small smile on her face. Cheryl elbowed her with an amused look. “You better make him work for it this time.” She said teasingly as Lavender slid off her seat. She rolled her eyes at the red-head, taking her drink in hand. 

“Don’t worry, I plan on it.” Lavender said with a small laugh. She pretended to be walking towards him as he continued to watch her, but at the last minute she turned and went to Fangs instead. 

Fangs laughed at the expression on Sweet Pea’s face. His frustration was very obvious as he went back to his pool game. Lavender opened her mouth to speak when the music suddenly changed and the lights dimmed. Her heart dropped into her stomach. This only happened during one occasion: a serpent dance. There was only one girl that she knew that was a Serpent hopeful. 

Her eyes went to the stage, trying to keep her confident air about her but struggling. A head of dark hair walked onto stage in an over-sized button up shirt and skirt with stockings. Kitty was on stage, hand on the pole as the music played. 

She began to dance, stripping off her clothes to show a lacy lingerie set. It was black, which was typical. It was not what Lavender had gone with for her dance, because she wanted to stand out, but definitely something that fit Kitty’s personality. 

Lavender dared to look behind her to see Sweet Pea staring up at the stage. There was a pleased look on his face as he licked his lips. She couldn’t help but stare at him, her heart sinking further down. Sweet Pea didn’t even seem to notice her anymore. Like she was fading away, her confidence shattered instantly and she quickly set her drink down at the table Fangs was sitting at. 

Fangs wasn’t too engulfed to not notice Lavender’s change of mood. He knew things between her and Sweets was extremely fragile, and Sweets seemed to be ruining what they had before it even started. Even if all he was doing was something any teenage boy would do. Fangs knew she was misunderstanding Sweet Pea’s attention completely. The tall Serpent had no feelings for the dancer on stage. However in was clear that Pea had never actually told Lavender that. 

Anger surged through her so fast that she thought she was going to burst. She looked like she was set to kill as she stormed in Sweet Pea’s direction. The song had ended and he was clapping, hollering to show his support of Kitty finishing her dance. He only stopped when he felt a shoulder slam into his arm and a flash of purple hair storm past him. 

She went outside, hot tears brimming her eyes. Her mind raced as she wondered if she’d ever meant a thing to Sweet Pea of if she was just another notch in his bedpost all along. 

“Shanna!” Sweet Pea called after her, only using her real name when he was trying to calm her down or get her full attention. “Stop!” 

She whipped around, fury evident in her glossy eyes as she glared up at him. “What do you _want_ , Sweet Pea?” She hissed at him, coiling back like a snake ready to strike. 

He ran a hand through his hair before trying to reach out to her, “you can’t be out here by yourself. You don’t know who is out here.” 

Her breath hitched in her throat. She hadn’t thought of that. Of course she was still on the Ghoulies’ hit list. She swallowed hard but her anger did not wane. “What do you care? Go back to Kitty since you like watching her dance so much.” 

So she was jealous? Sweet Pea was a little taken aback. Since when did Lavender get jealous at him paying attention to other girls? Sure there was the time before when she confronted Kitty about sleeping with him, but he thought that was just a case of one cat not liking another. 

Sweet Pea’s bewildering look showed her that he hadn’t realized what he’d done. Not that it made it any better, but her anger lessened ever so slightly. “I don’t care about her, Shanna. I care about you, damn it! You can be mad at me but don’t just run out here on your own where you can get hurt again!” He said, obviously angry at her as well for being so reckless. 

Her features softened slightly. Why did he always share his feelings when he was yelling at her? She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed defiantly. 

“Plus, you’re the one being a tease tonight. Eating that cherry like that and then ignoring me.” He crossed his arms too, staring down at her with frustration etched across his features. 

Lavender stepped closer to him, feeling somewhat bad about her actions earlier after seeing that they had obviously hurt his feelings. She lightly grabbed his forearm, forcing it down so he’d uncross his arms. “You mean that, about Kitty? Didn’t you sleep with her?” 

Sweet Pea put his arms by his side as she stepped even closer to him. “No, you kept interrupting us before we got that far.” He said as a matter-of-fact. “She was just a distraction anyway.” 

She bit her lip as she looked up at him with big, beautiful, hazel eyes. “Let’s go back to the store room.” She whispered lowly as she reached up to touch his face softly, “I need you.” 

His eyes were dark, even the light of the street lamp couldn’t lighten them. “Are you sure?” He whispered so quietly that she almost didn’t hear him. 

“I trust you, Pea.” She replied, leaning up on her tippy toes and bringing his face down at the same time with her hand so she could kiss him gently on the lips. “I’ll never be over this if we don’t.” 

He nodded, his face still close to hers. “Let’s go through the back.” 

Lavender smiled slightly, “do you have a condom?” 

Sweet Pea cursed because he knew he didn’t. “I’ll get one from Fangs.” 

She shook her head, “how do you not have a condom?” 

“I wasn’t expecting to get laid tonight.” He added flatly, rolling his eyes. “I’ll meet you there. Just give me two minutes.” 

Sweet Pea watched as she walked to the back door, waiting until she was safely inside before hurrying through the front door. He made a bee-line towards his best friend who was drinking Lavender’s drink. “Fogarty, I need a condom.” 

Fangs gave him a disapproving look, “really, dude? You’re going to do that to Lavender?” 

“What are you talking about? She’s the one that asked me.” Sweet Pea asked, clearly confused. 

He stared at Pea, having thought that he was going to use the condom to sleep with Kitty. “Sorry, man. I just assumed you meant Kitty. Here,” he pulled a condom out of his wallet and handed it to him. “Don’t go too rough, okay?” 

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes, “you don’t have to tell me that.” He replied, knowing fully well that this wasn’t about to be a bought of kinky sex like he usually enjoyed. That wasn’t what she needed right now…well, not unless she asked. 

Toni shot him a look as he went behind the bar to go into the storeroom. She had an idea of what was up but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t very happy with Kitty becoming a Serpent either. Neither she nor Cheryl cared for the girl. She just seemed shady to them. 

Sweet Pea opened the door to the room to see Lavender leaning back against the built-in shelves lined with supplies. He closed the door behind him and reached out to grab her good wrist, pulling her over to him. He cupped her face before kissing her deeply. 

Lavender kissed him back with a small eager moan, arms wrapping around his neck. His hands moved down her body, reaching around to grab her ass playfully and squeeze. She let out a small laugh between breaths as she pressed her body against his. 

He groaned into a biting kiss, taking her lower lip in between his teeth to nip at it. One of Lavender’s hand stayed on the back of his neck while the other tugged at the hem of his shirt. 

“Oh, you actually want me naked this time?” Sweet Pea asked in a teasing tone since last time they had sex they had kept most of their clothing on. Only removing what was in the way. 

“That was all you, not me.” Lavender corrected him before pulling his shirt up higher. Sweet Pea pulled away from her to take it off and throw it to the side. Her hands ran over his chest and abdomen, tracing lines and lightly scratching. 

Sweet Pea’s breath caught in his throat at her touch. “You’re going to need to stop that if you want me to be gentle.” He warned her, not knowing how she wanted this to go. 

Lavender already had a hazy look in her eye, her fingers travelling lower to run over his belt. “Bold of you to assume that I want you to be gentle.” 

He hastily pushed her jacket off of her shoulders and she slid it off of her, dropping it next to his layers of t-shirt, flannel, and denim vest. He fumbled around looking for a zipper on her dress, making her frustrated with him. “There is no zipper, Pea.” She said before pulling it up over her head just as he had done with his shirt. 

His eyes ran over her matching set of bra and underwear and he noted that it was something nicer than what she would normally have worn. “You planned on doing this tonight, didn’t you?” 

She gave him an innocent look as she unfascined his belt, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said coyly. Next she unhooked his button, sliding his zipper down. Sweet Pea just stared at her, fascinated with her change in behavior. 

Of course he had always had a feeling she had it in her to be like this, but even during their one night stand she had been a little more reserved. More importantly she was sober this time around so her actions weren’t fueled by alcohol. 

“Are you sure about this.” Sweet Pea asked, hesitating even as her hand slid into his pants. He clenched his teeth to keep from moaning. Resisting was becoming more difficult but he had to be sure. They couldn’t go back from this. 

“Do you not want me?” Lavender replied, pulling away from him as she suddenly felt very self-conscious. Her bruises were gone, her cuts were minimal, and the only thing really wrong (besides her mental state) were her healing bones. Self-doubt ran down her spine, maybe she didn’t look as good as she thought she did. Maybe he didn’t sexually desire her like she thought he did. 

Sweet Pea grabbed her by the hips and brought her back closer to him. “Yes, fuck, I want you so bad.” He whispered to her. “I just don’t want to hurt you.” He gave her a chaste kiss before pulling away slowly, “you’re beautiful.” 

Lavender’s face flushed pink at his compliment. She’d never heard something so sweet come from his mouth. It was awkward but perfect at the same time. “Sweet Pea…” She practically moaned against him, his words setting her on fire. “Yes, I’m sure. Please just fuck me before I go crazy.” 

Sweets chuckled, “I think I can do that.” He started to grind his hips against hers, one hand running behind her back to unclasp her bra. He tore it off of her so he could play with her chest. 

She shoved his pants down and he stepped out of them, having to awkwardly kick off his boots first. Lavender laughed lightly at him fighting to take his own clothes off. He shot her a warning look before snatching her up in his arms to kiss roughly down her neck. Her laughter turned into a fit of giggles as his lips tickled her skin. 

The sound gave him a final vote of confidence to keep going. If she needed him to stop, then he was sure she’d tell him. Her hand was between his legs, rubbing his length painfully slow. Sweet Pea let out a groan, one hand on her breast and another on her ass, and both were groping with bruising grips. 

The hand that was on her backside, slid to the front and into her green lace underwear. His fingers quickly found her clit and he rubbed circles around it, being just as slow with her as he was with him. 

Lavender moaned, resting her forehead against his shoulder. She moved his boxers down to grab his cock, palming him a little more feverishly than before. He was already partially hard, growing more rigid at her touch. 

Sweet Pea let out a breath as he moved his own fingers faster since she decided to stop teasing him. “How do you want it, baby?” He murmured into her ear before licking the shell of it. 

Lavender shivered as she thought. There weren’t a whole lot of positions they could do in the small room. “Against the door.” She said back and he spun them around, pressing her back against the door as he finished taking off his boxers. 

He got down to his knees and slipped her underwear down so that she was also totally naked save for the heels she was wearing. Lavender stepped out of the undergarment so that she wasn’t restricted. 

Sweet Pea lifted her up and placed her thighs on his shoulders, his mouth honing in onto her core aggressively. He licked and nipped and sucked until her body was shaking against the piece of wood half holding her up. 

Her hands were in his hair, mussing it up as she cried out from the pleasure he was giving her. “Pea,” She cried out, “Oh god, please-“ She couldn’t form complete sentences anymore as her brain went haywire. 

There was not a shred of darkness in her brain. Her thoughts were bursting with light and color and affection. Sweet Pea brought her to the edge by lapping at her clit while fucking her with his fingers. 

If he weren’t holding her so tightly, then she’d have fallen when she hit her peak. Her upper body was squirming since her lower was forced into place. 

As she caught her breath, he dragged his tongue slowly over her to clean her up. Once done he set her legs down carefully. He grabbed the condom that he had set on one of the shelves and ripped it open. He rolled it onto his fully erect penis before getting up onto his feet. 

Lavender was panting more from anticipation than from the high. Sweet Pea lifted her up once more, wrapping her arms around his waist. He guided himself into her and they both moaned out at finally feeling together. 

Sweet Pea wasn’t quite rough but he wasn’t gentle either. He was a perfect mix of the two, pumping in and out of her. “Fuck baby, you feel so good.” He groaned into her ear, making her whine softly. 

“Does it feel good, princess?” He asked, knowing by her moans that she had to be feeling good but also wanting to hear it. 

Lavender kissed his tattoo, her tongue sliding along the snake’s body. He grunted in response. “Your dick is perfect.” She cooed back. Sweets increased his pace again, the door knocking loudly against its frame. 

He was leaving bruises on her shoulders as he pounded into her. Soon enough they were both orgasming from the sensation of the other. It was intense, blinding, and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of them. The thick veil of frustration had been ripped away as they were both now satisfied. 

The air of the room was thick with heat and humidity from their sweat. Sweet Pea removed himself from her and set her legs back down onto floor. Lavender’s knees were shaking still as she hadn’t quite come down from her high yet. 

There was a banging on the door suddenly. “I need more tequila!” Toni shouted loudly over the music that was blaring in the bar. 

Sweet Pea threw some boxers on before urging Lavender to move. She stood behind the door as he opened it and handed Toni a bottle of clear liquid. “There. Anything else?” 

“If Hog-eye catches you two he’s going to flip.” She said with a very amused look. “So you better get dressed before he comes back from his run.” 

Sweets shut the door and looked at Lavender. “You heard her, Rhodes. Better get dressed.” He started putting his clothes back on as Lavender hesitated. Her mind was reeling from what had just happened, not sure if it was real or not. 

“Are you okay?” Sweet Pea asked, noticing her sluggish movements. “Did I hurt you?” Suddenly he was worried that he had done something wrong and got too into it. Maybe he should have held back more. 

“I’m fine.” Lavender nodded, slipping her underwear and bra back on. “That was just…very intense.” She said before picking up her dress. “Can this…not be a one-time thing?” 

Sweet Pea stared her down with his deep brown eyes that she’d come to adore. “Are you asking to be my girl?” He questioned, wanting clarification to what she was asking. 

Lav bit her lip. “Yea…” She whispered, doubt rising in her stomach. 

Pea smiled, his eyes crinkling in the way they only did when he was truly happy and she knew that was a yes.


	15. At Last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will probably be wrapping this series up soon. Maybe take a small break and then write a sequel? If you follow me on Tumblr then you know i Have another series in the works that is with a new OC! It will be a polyamory fic between Sweet Pea, my OC, and Fangs! A college AU! So keep a look out for _Compersion_.
> 
> As always, cross-posted on [Tumblr](http://theangriestpea.tumblr.com). Follow me for updates, moodboards, exclusive one-shots, blurbs, and more!

Lavender scooped up another mouthful of rice with her chopsticks, stuffing it into her mouth. Toni finished off the last piece of her sweet and sour chicken. “So, you and Sweets are like…together?”

Lav swallowed before drinking some of her Old Fashioned that Toni had made for her earlier. Her throat suddenly felt dry and she wasn’t sure what to say. She and Sweet Pea had decided to keep their newfound relationship under wraps while things were still tense with the Ghoulies. It was just something new for both of them. 

Things hadn’t changed too much since that night at the Wyrm. It had only been a few days but they had seemed a little more at ease with one another. The tension was gone, _finally_. It was very obvious to the other Serpents and especially to Toni who had been manning the bar that night. 

“It’s um…” She mumbled, not really knowing how she should respond. “A little complicated?” Her voice ended in a question. Was it really all that complicated? She had basically asked him to be his girlfriend and he (in his own Sweet Pea way) said yes. By all accounts they were “official”. 

“So you’re just boning in the supply closet then?” Toni asked jokingly, putting her now empty container of food down. “Because I know it’s more than that.” 

Lav bit her lip, “we promised to keep in on the down low.” She said in a soft voice. “But yes, we agreed to be exclusive.” 

A grin broke across Toni’s face. She didn’t even try to conceal her excitement for her two friends. Her smile faltered slightly though, unsure of how Lavender was really taking everything. “But you were okay with this? After everything that happened with James? I mean, that relationship just ended…” 

She put down her rice as a small frown formed on her face. “Yes, I’m okay…” There wasn’t much confidence left in her voice now as she looked at her lap. 

Toni reached out to grab her hand, “Lavender, tell me the truth.” Her voice came out like an older sister trying to pry information out of a younger sibling. Lavender’s eyes lifted to look into Toni’s. 

Tears lined her lower lids suddenly as emotion overwhelmed her suddenly. “I’m so scared.” Lavender said, her voice wavering as she tried not to sob. She felt like she had just cried so much the past month that crying more just seemed moot. 

Toni smiled softly, her thumb rubbing against the back of Lav’s hand to help soothe her. “The Serpents will protect you, you know that, right? No Serpent left behind.” She wanted to make sure that her friend knew that things would be okay, these threats would blow over eventually. 

“No, it’s not that.” Lavender stated, feeling calm enough to speak. “I’m afraid that I’ll ruin things between me and Sweet Pea.” 

Toni’s brows furrowed in confusion, “why do you think that, baby?” She asked, not knowing what the reasoning behind Lav’s anxiety was. “Sweet Pea is kind of a brute but he’s not going to hurt you on purpose. You know that, right?” 

Lav wiped her eyes with the hand that wasn’t in Toni’s grasp. “I’m so fucked up, Toni. I don’t want him to leave because he can’t handle all of my baggage. I don’t even think I can handle it. It’s so heavy. I’m so tired. I don’t know what to do.” 

Toni moved closer, wrapping her arm around Lav’s shoulders to hug her. Her friend was shaking from holding back tears, her previously unspoken fears now bared to the world. “Pea is the strongest boy I know. Strong enough to carry you _and_ your baggage.” Toni said in a reassuring tone. 

“You really think he can bench all that?” Lavender asked, her tone a little less depressing and a bit more playful. 

“You’ve seen those arms, girl.” Toni replied with a laugh, squeezing her shoulders one last time before pulling away. “And you won’t get rid of him that easily.” 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Sweet Pea sat with his girlfriend in the examination room of the orthopedic clinic. Lav was finally getting her cast off after having it on for six weeks. Things had been going slow with Pea but not unbearably so. They were connected and nights with him were sensual but there felt like there was a block between them. 

Perhaps it was just her that felt that way, but Sweet Pea hadn’t even attempted to have sex with her again. Though things had gotten hot and heavy a few times, there was always something interrupting him. Usually it was Kitty, calling, texting, knocking on the door to Pea’s trailer. 

Because they still weren’t open about their relationship, Lavender had been reluctant to simply tell Kitty to fuck right off of her territory. The only ones who knew for sure were Fangs, Toni, and Cheryl. Even the Joneses had been kept in the dark, though Jughead had pretty much figured it out already. 

The doctor came in, looking at his chart. “Alright, Miss Rhodes. Let’s get this cast off.” He flashed her a smile before picking up the saw. “You’re going to feel some vibration, okay?” 

Lavender nodded as he slowly cut off the cast that had kept her bones in place for six weeks now. After the doctor removed it, she flexed her hand a few times. It almost felt foreign to not have the cast in the way of her thumb. There was a small smile on her lips that caused butterflies to flutter in Sweet Pea’s chest. 

“We’re going to do one last set of X-rays just to make sure everything healed properly. The nurse will be in, in one moment.” The doctor said after looking over her wrist, making sure she had a good range of movement. Once he was satisfied, he left once more. 

Lavender looked at Sweet Pea, noticing that he was staring at her. “What?” 

Sweet Pea shifted uneasily in his seat as he felt a little called out. His neck flushed in a slight red. “You just look happy.” 

She looked down at her freed wrist. “I’m glad to finally have that thing off. It was the last evidence I had of anything being wrong with me. Now when people look at me, they won’t wonder what happened. They’ll start to forget.” 

Pea let out a soft sigh. Sure she was physically healed but he knew that mentally she still was struggling more days than not. Before he could say anything further the nurse came in to take Lav to the X-ray room. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Once Lavender was given a clean bill of health, she and Sweet Pea went to the Whyte Wyrm to relax with the fellow young Serpents. Lavender was shooting pool with Fangs while Sweet Pea sat on the sidelines, waiting to play winner. Of course they all knew Fangs was going to win because Lav was such a terrible player. 

They were actually tied when Lavender saw a girl with dark hair fried from too many dye jobs, walk in. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she felt Fangs’ elbow gently jut into her side. “You’re shot, babe.” He said, knowing fully well what was distracting her. 

Kitty sauntered over to Sweet Pea, sliding into his lap effortlessly. “Hey Sweetie Pea.” She breathed. 

The anger that had slowly been building inside of Lavender for six weeks now finally boiled over. It bubbled through her veins and something deep inside of her snapped totally. 

Lavender moved so that her back was to them and leaned over the table. She glanced up at Fangs with a devious smirk on her face. 

Sweet Pea stiffened in his seat, not knowing exactly how to react to this situation. He didn’t care about Kitty in the slightest, in fact her constant pining towards him was starting to grow annoying. She always interrupted him when he was about to get laid and Lavender would be so angry afterwards that the mood would totally be ruined. 

Lavender lined up her shot in a way that seemed very confusing to Fangs and Sweet Pea. The angle of her stick was all wrong, even for her. Suddenly she jerked the stick backwards, the end colliding into Kitty’s nose. The sound of bone cracking rattled the bar. 

Kitty let out a loud shriek, jumping from Pea’s lap as her hand flew to her now bleeding nose. Blood and tears gushed down her face. “What the fuck?” She screeched so loud that the two boys flinched. 

“Oh, I’m _so_ sorry.” Lavender said. “I didn’t know you were right behind me!” Her voice was so superficially innocent that it really didn’t fool anyone. 

“You bitch!” Kitty lunged at Lav, claws out to scratch at her face. 

However, when Lavender wasn’t been blindsided by alcohol, darkness, and multiple assailants, she was actually a pretty skilled fighter. She stepped out of Kitty’s line of fire, grabbing Sweet Pea’s empty beer bottle and breaking it across the back of Kitty’s head. 

Kitty stumbled forward and Fangs had to catch her before she fell to the floor. Lav was staring into Pea’s wide eyes. Her own gaze ripe with freshly burned fury that was released as she dropped the neck of the now broken bottle. She grabbed Sweet Pea by the lapel of his leather jacket and pulled him into a deep and fiery kiss. 

Her display of dominance was an incredible turn on. Sweet Pea grabbed the back of her head as he kissed her back with the same ferocity. Suddenly he needed her and she needed him, but another romp in the back room didn’t seem good enough. 

Fangs was holding a very dazed Kitty, an amused glint in his eye as he watched his two friends kiss passionately. Kitty tried to get her bearings straight but she was seeing stars from the second blow to the head. 

“Let’s go, baby,” Lavender said, her lips still lightly touching Sweet Pea’s as she whispered. “I need you. Now.” 

Sweet Pea stood up from his seat and wrapped an arm around her waist to lead her outside. As they were walking to his bike, his hand slipped down to grab her ass playfully. Once at his bike, he handed her his spare helmet, “Better prepare yourself, doll. You’re in for a _ride_.” 

Lavender smirked at him, putting the helmet on and getting onto the bike behind him. She squeezed her front tightly against his back, hand dangerously close to the crotch of his pants. 

Pea sped off to his trailer where he knew they were less likely to get interrupted. Plus he definitely had a stash of condoms there and he wasn’t sure if Lav had any in hers. 

He parked his bike and Lavender tore off her helmet. She leaned into him more to kiss the snake on his neck teasingly before he could dismount. Her hand finally venturing to between his legs to grope him. 

He let out a possessive growl at her touches, “Better get your ass inside before you make me fuck you on this bike.” He warned her, making Lav laugh. She withdrew from him and got off the bike. Pea followed after, sweeping her up into his arms to throw her over his shoulder so he could carry her inside. 

Lavender let out a squeal of surprise when he picked her up, but didn’t fight him. Laughter erupted out of her as he quickly made his way into his trailer and threw her down onto the bed. She sat up to meet him in another passionate kiss as he crawled over on top of her. 

His hands traveled up her legs, thumbs roaming the inside of her thighs. Sweet Pea’s lower lip caught between her teeth and she sucked hard on it in the slightly chapped skin. 

Pea greedily tugged at her underwear, nearly ripping them at the seams as he pulled them down. Lavender released him, letting out another laugh. “So, you’re not even going to take my skirt off first?” 

He let out a small groan of frustration. “You started this, not me.” He pointed out, referencing to her attack on Kitty since it was probably the biggest turn on he’d ever experienced. 

She grinned at him innocently before lifting her hips up so she could discard her skirt as well. “Take your clothes off, sweetheart.” She cooed as she tugged off her own t-shirt and bra so that she was completely naked underneath him. 

Sweet Pea admired the view before making quick work of his own clothes. Now that they were both naked, Lav could see how rock hard he was. She gave him a look of pure anticipation. He dove down to capture her lips once more. 

He left a trail of wet, sloppy kisses down her neck and down between her breasts. His thumb rubbed over her clit teasingly, causing Lav to let out a whiny moan. 

Her legs spread for him eagerly. “That’s right baby, spread your legs for me.” He growled against the skin of her breasts. 

A finger ghosted her entrance, producing another whine from her. “Damn, you’re this wet already?” He asked, looking up at her with a very proud smirk on his face. 

Lavender shuddered as he moved back to rub her clit again in slow circles. She reached down and grabbed his cock to stroke it slowly. She smeared his pre-cum across the tip, sending pleasure through him that equated to her own. 

He reached over to his bedside table and grabbed a condom out of the box just lazily sitting on top of it. Boy had nothing to hide, apparently. He ripped open the gold foil packaging and took it out. 

She took it from his hands, “allow me.” She delicately rolled the condom onto his hard penis. Sweet Pea groaned at her touch, his head tilting back slightly. 

He regained his train of thought and ran his tip against her slit. Lavender moved her hips to try and get him into her. He shot her a disapproving look before slowly inserting his tip. 

She bit her lip at him, “Please, Pea,” She murmured to him. He grabbed one of her legs and brought it up against him so that it was against his shoulder. He kept a tight grip on her thigh and he pushed all the way in. 

Lavender let out a moan, finally feeling some relief from all the pent up frustration she had been feeling the past few weeks. At last no one was interrupting them and they could just _be_. 

Sweet Pea stopped when he was deep inside her, simply letting himself enjoy the feeling of being engulfed by her warmth. She looked up at him with pupils blown with passion. The same look always had whenever things started getting intense. He loved it. He wanted to capture it on film and just look at it any time he was feeling low. 

He slowly started to thrust, taking himself almost all the way out before slamming back in. It was slow but hard, and every time he went in to his hilt he heard a delicious cry of pleasure come from his girlfriend. 

Eventually his speed picked up, thrusts becoming a bit shallower in order to move faster. Lavender’s moans grew with his speed. The fabric of his sheets were bunched in her hands as she couldn’t touch him due to the position they were in. 

Sensing that she wanted more to hold, he leaned down. Her leg bent at the hip to allow his body to be closer to hers. Her hands shot up and wrapped around him, nails digging into his skin. Sweets groaned at the sensation, always having loved to feel a bit pain while buried deep inside of her. 

He started to pound relentlessly into her, wanting her to hit her peak and knowing that he could get her there quickly. “Sweet Pea,” She mewled, her leg still draped over his shoulder so that he was hitting a deeper angle than he normally did. 

“You like that, baby?” He asked huskily, “you like being fucked by your man?” 

“Yes!” She cried out, feeling her climax rising just as he wanted it to. 

Sweet Pea didn’t let up, he kept moving his hips furiously until she was screaming out his name so loud that anyone outside the trailer probably heard it. A few jagged thrusts later, he came as well and moved her leg to the side so he could rest on top of her. 

Lavender tried to catch her breath, feeling overwhelmed with a mass of emotions. Pea’s forehead was resting on her shoulder as he breathed deeply as well. Once he could see straight again he slid out of her and took off the used condom. 

After tossing it into a nearby trashcan, he rolled over to lay beside her. They were cramped in his twin bed but it was comforting to be forced to be close together. His arm rested across her waist and he held her tight in his arms. 

“You’re going to fall asleep, aren’t you?” Lavender asked once she could breathe normally again. Her tone was light and joking, not caring if he did fall asleep for a nap. 

“Hmm,” He hummed tiredly, “considering it.” 

She chuckled lightly and turned so her back was against his chest in a spooning position. “Get some rest. Then we can go for round two.”


End file.
